


Be My Queen

by Lorelai_of_mexx



Series: Queen of the Grey [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Armitage Hux Being An Asshole, Bathtub Sex, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Non-Consensual Kissing, Reconciliation, Shower Sex, Slow Burn, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:35:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 46,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24983935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorelai_of_mexx/pseuds/Lorelai_of_mexx
Summary: Rey took Kylo's hand and agreed to rule by his side.Slowly, they're getting closer, overcoming one obstacle after another.A Reylo AU that many would have wished for.Translated from German with DeepL
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Queen of the Grey [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843420
Comments: 34
Kudos: 80





	1. The Offer

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my dears!
> 
> This is my first fanfiction and I am very excited.  
> Without many words ... if I can do it, there will be a new chapter every day. 
> 
> Have fun reading it.

Be my Queen

The Offer

"Join with me and rule by my side. Be my queen and we will build a new power." 

The words are ringing in Reys ears again. The destruction around her suddenly seems to blur into a single image.  
Facing her, Ben stands and holds out his hand in a gesture of cooperation. Dressed in black gloves as usual. The fingers she could touch for a brief moment. The warm skin of the man with whom she felt for a brief moment not alone.

As if by magic, her hand slowly moved upwards. The offer hangs like a stone in the air between them.  
A queen?! A world with another power at the top. She... with him?!  
Why does it cry out inside her that she wants it? Thoughts spin like a spiral around the one subject. 

Until now there have been no warmer feelings between them. But since that strange connection, she had been able to look inside him and recognize a man with two sides. The power-hungry monster, eaten away by the darkness. And somewhere a bright place with the man he should have become. 

His leather glove is smooth and cold as it grips him. No return from the dark undertow in her. No turning back.  
His coffee-brown eyes pierce hers like arrows. Attentive but inscrutable. They stand among the debris and make a deal she never dreamed of. 

Quickly, she takes her hand out of his again. It is almost embarrassing for her how she waits here for him and sees her future in the midst of the destruction. 

"Come with me! We must leave here before..."  
At that moment a shock shakes the spaceship. Kylo jumps on it and not a second later everything behind him blows up. The shock wave throws them far away and makes them hit hard. 

For a moment she is numb, but when she regains consciousness he is still lying on top of her. He had protected her. She had never been so close to a man before.  
His hair and skin smelled of sweat from the fight and the wool of his clothes.  
He had his arms tightly wrapped around her and was breathing heavily when he leaned on her. When they both stand up, she realises that a large part of the spaceship is missing. The big cruiser of the rebels passed through them at the speed of light, like butter, and took some other spaceships of the fleet with it. 

Kylo hurried to a control desk and began to speak into a small microphone.  
"To all First Order troops! This is Kylo Ren! The Supreme Leader has been killed by a deserter! I assume the post of Supreme Leader and order an immediate retreat! Initiate a rescue operation! Try to rescue all those who can be rescued and return to base M Λ! There you will receive your next orders!" 

Then he turns to her and says, "We'd better get to the escape pod. The whole place is going to blow up."  
And he's right, the main ship, the pride of the First Order is falling apart. 

The young woman was just about to knock the dust off her clothes and see if everything was still intact. He handed her her lightsaber, which he dropped when he fell, and she put it back on the leather belt on her hip. 

Without another word they go into the back of the large room towards the rescue capsule of the Supreme Leader. Fortunately it wasn't damaged in the impact. 

"Come on, get in!" He opens the hatch and waves them in. Rey takes a seat in one half of the capsule and watches as Kylo enters the target coordinates into the onboard computer. Then he sits down opposite her. The capsule separates from the rest of the ship and the damage is more clearly visible from the outside. Many other rescue ships leave the main ship in a hurry. 

In this moment of silence the thoughts and feelings all come up at once.  
"Thank you very much!" Does she mean casually. He looks at her in bewilderment and asks what for.  
"For protecting me." He understands.  
He looks away from her and replies, "I cannot let my future queen die." So cold. But Rey suspects a bit of concern. Maybe she's just imagining things, making up fantasy images.

"Um...!" she raises the word again and the black-haired man looks at her.  
"What should I call you in the presence of others? Ben or Kylo Ren?"  
He thinks about it for a moment while looking deep into her eyes and then replies: "My mother and my... father... gave me this name... Since I became Kylo Ren, I have not been able to bear it..."  
He suddenly says the following words very quietly and looks down on the ground. "...but I like it when you call me that." 

For a moment she thinks she can see a slight blush stealing down his cheeks. And then the moment is gone again.  
He stares straight ahead and says in a firm voice, "For the others I am Kylo Ren, but you may call me what you like." 

It's like there are two beings inside this man. The one dark, threatening and straight ahead and the other warm and vulnerable but she sees it as a permission to call him by his 'right' name. 

"Well, then I promise not to call you monster, either."  
A little embarrassed, Rey looks away and is ashamed of that statement. She doesn't want to remember now the context in which she threw that insult at him. 

"I allow you... to call me whatever you see fit. From your point of view, I certainly deserve to be called a monster." 

And there it was, the devouring monster called Guilt, from whom he had hidden himself as best he could. It was only when he was near her that he couldn't shake it off. But even if her presence meant for him to admit to himself what he had done. he still wouldn't be able to turn her away. Since he had touched her fingers for only a short moment, she seemed like something new to him, from which he could not keep away anymore. 

"You should get some rest. The flight will take a while."  
"We're on our way to MΛ?" "No, we're on our way to another first-order base. Since I joined, this place is kind of like my 'home'." 

Home... a strange word coming out of his mouth.  
"We won't be able to cover that long distance with the small capsule, so we're heading for another Stardestroyer, which will take us to this planet." 

Outside, the universe is flying by. In the distance the spaceship is burning and debris is flying around. All this happened in a very short time. Ben had turned against his master, even killed him. And now here it is. Not even one meter away from her 'ally'. 

Rey closes her eyes and blocks everything out. Before them lies a new world and a new mission. To bring peace to the universe. Then she thinks of Finn and hopes that he and the others are well. But to keep her safe, she has to create that safety herself. 

Together with him. 

The young man sits facing her with folded arms and makes no eye contact when she looks up.  
As if he had guessed or read in her thoughts, he says: "You don't have to worry about her anymore. When we have succeeded in giving peace back to the universe, they will all be able to live in peace. Get some sleep now. Before we arrive, I will wake you up." 

"Fine, thank you. I'll trust you as much as I can. ...My King."  
The word hangs in the air between you like a time bomb. But from him comes nothing more than a slight twitch of the corners of your mouth. No chance of getting anything out of him.  
Rey closes his eyes and hopes to see the ship when she, she opens them again and one day a happy Ben.


	2. Fellows?!

In fact, her first wish came true. She immediately recognizes the familiar silhouette and the lights of a Stardestroyer. She also feels the pain in her shoulder and the emptiness in her stomach, which is as big as on some days on Jakku when she had to work as a scrap collector. 

Carefully she looks out of the corner of her eye in his direction and realizes that he is still sitting in the same place with crossed arms. 

Just as he notices that she has woken up, he slowly stands up.  
"Perfect timing! We're just arriving," he says and looks out the window.  
A flap is opened and a runway is prepared. They land a bit uncomfortably and slide a few more meters over the ground. As there is nothing to hold on to, they almost fall on top of each other and get very close to each other with a jerk. 

Displaced, Rey quickly retreats again and at this moment the hatch is opened. `Luckily!` she thinks to herself.  
Kylo steps outside and a storm trooper says "It's the supreme leader! Kylo Ren!" and all the others who form a passage salute. 

When Rey leaves the capsule, everything happens in a split second. The lead assault rider yells, "STOP! STAY LONG!"  
Everyone points their weapons at Rey, and before she can react correctly, all weapons hit the ground. Then Rey realizes that Kylo has one hand slightly raised.  
Suddenly the officer flies loudly against a wall and is apparently held by his neck and choked. 

Kylo takes a few steps towards him and announces in a firm voice: "She is my fallow and I order everyone to face her with dignity! ... Not a hair will be harmed! She will be treated like a princess! Is that clear?" 

From the officer comes only a stifled "Yes, sir!"  
He falls to the ground again, gets up quickly and offers them quarters. 

Kylo turns around and immediately realizes that he must have made a mistake. He has difficulty interpreting Rey's gaze. But he suspects that the term 'fallow' is too intrusive for her. Later he would have to talk to her about it but now... 

"Come on, get some rest. I'll show you where we can get something to eat later."  
He goes on, as always, at his own pace. Rey can keep up with us and look around a bit. It's smaller here than on the destroyed command ship but the layout is basically the same.  
Long corridors with black and silver panelling, soldiers, officers and employees walk past them and nod submissively to their escort. 

"Here you can rest for a while. I'll pick you up later for dinner."  
So many questions burn in Rey's mouth as Kylo walks on. Maybe she finds the opportunity to ask him a few at dinner. 

It is a simple quarter with bright white walls and a bed that looks very inviting. Immediately she walks towards it, lies down and is seized by an endless tiredness. Even before she sinks into a deep sleep she has to think of Ben again and how he attacked the storm trooper. She knew beforehand that he doesn't always have his impulse control completely under control but probably she doesn't even suspect how little. And yet, there was that word he used... fallow. 

After giving the officers some more orders about the course Kylo finally arrives at his quarters. The first thing he wants to do is wash off the dirt and blood from the battle. He takes off his clothes, climbs into the shower cabin, turns the water on and after the first hot drops he already feels the tension coming off him. 

She is here, near him. She has chosen for him and a healthy middle course. He has asked her to become his 'queen'... and she agreed. And then he remembers the flight back here. She was asleep, and he was completely fascinated by the sight. This vulnerability that she was radiating... He must have sensed before how much he wanted her for himself. And now she's almost within his grasp. He just has to make her trust him... win her over. So she'll finally be his. 

Then he remembers again how much strength it had cost him not to touch her in his sleep. not to brush that naughty little strand of hair from her face behind her ear. He would have loved to touch her face but to gain her trust, that would not be a good start.  
He would have to find time to be alone with her. This opportunity will certainly be found on the target planet.

When Rey wakes up later, she is amazed at the restful sleep. The pillow was a bit flat but she hadn't slept in a reasonably decent bed for that long. As if she had such a thing, as a scrap collector. In contrast, a bed with a blanket and a pillow is pure luxury. 

But then after a short time it's as if a bubble burst. She is sad and happy at the same time and it is as if two sides in her fight for the upper hand. In the end the happy side wins. 

Rey has done what she dared to do to Snoke in the lion's den. Things are about to change. At his side, she believes she can see the future she wants for everyone.  
Where do we go now? What does she expect? Everything falls away from her and what remains is a cold self that hopes for new warmth. 

"Send a signal to the planet that we will arrive soon!" Kylo stands on the bridge and gives the orders instead of the Commander. Rey leans against the wall and watches. In their eyes, he is almost like a child testing his power. Now he is above them all. And they have accepted him as their supreme ruler. What other choice would they have.  
It was clever to invent a deserter who killed the former Supreme Leader. 

When Kylo turns around, he looks satisfied.  
"Come! I'll show you where we can get something to eat."  
As he walks past her, he gets pretty close. He smells fresher and looks a lot more positive on the outside.  
He has his lightsaber hanging off his hip. It's a strange thing. Deep red, like blood. 

"You already seem to feel comfortable in your new role," she says with a slight grin.  
"I'm used to giving orders. But as soon as we arrive on the target planet I want to take my time and give you a proper workout." 

Right, training. He hadn't mentioned that before. Maybe it's just as well. She had been able to train a little with the Lightsaber on Master Skywalker's Island, but neither the master nor she herself were ever completely satisfied with her skills. He always said she was too much guided by her instincts when she fought. But so far she had only been so successful. 

Arriving in the dining room, where already some soldiers (without helmets) are eating, Kylo leads them to a still free table and gets them some bread, salad and water. 

During the meal he tells her that they will be there soon.  
"Once we get there, there will be better meals." He says, looking right at her. 

"Who is actually in command of the fleet while you train me?"  
That's a question he never thought he'd ask. Although, he really should think about it. 

"I'll be the judge of that. We should choose someone we can trust."  
She stares at him with big eyes.  
When he notices her amazement, it amuses him for a brief moment and he has to refrain from smiling. But then he says: "We should make such decisions together more often in the future ... if we want to rule side by side." 

For a moment, Rey feels suffocated by that statement. She knew, of course, that's exactly what it would amount to.  
After she swallows her last bite noisily, she just replies, "I get it."  
Kylo can't react to this any further, as a storm trooper informs him that they have reached their goal soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks for the kudos. I hope you had fun reading it.  
> See you tomorrow and stay well
> 
> Your Lori ♥


	3. The Base

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Kylo land on the Baisi and she takes the opportunity to look around a bit.

It's a blue-green ball that they land on. Almost like the planet where they met Maz. Lush vegetation appears and in the distance some mountains rise.  
In the middle of it is the base. Like a blunt and black foreign body in a green oasis.

The landing blows up the dust and breaks some branches. With a swing and a last jolt they come to a halt and get out.  
The air is pleasantly fresh and it is almost too peaceful and perfect to be true.  
Except for the threatening looking fortress in front of her it is a picture she could get used to.

On the horizon the sun slowly sets and throws beautiful golden rays of light through the branches. All the others have no eye for it. The storm troopers carry crates into the base. There stands Kylo. He hasn't worn his mask for a long time. She wonders what has become of it. 

In the next moment his gaze meets hers. Full of expectation he studies her facial expressions.  
She decides not to leave him standing and walks towards him. 

"You are welcome to go inside. I'll tell someone to show you around if that's what you want?! ... But you'd better not touch anything until you know how everything works!"  
He turns around, waves an officer in green uniform and gives him brief instructions.  
Then he asks them to follow him. As she's walking, she says to Kylo, "I managed to fly the Millennium Falcon without anyone teaching me... I think I'm gonna be OK." She doesn't turn around but even without seeing his stunned face she has to smile a little. 

A little, it's like she's learning to dance with him. Again and again they walk towards each other step by step and then tease each other again with an unexpected side step. And nobody knows exactly what the right thing to say is.  
And after all, he had attacked her earlier ... And now he's asking her to be his partner... just not that kind of partner! Is it?

It's cool inside the fortress. As warm and pleasant as it seems outside the forest, it seems cold and sterile inside.

"I will take you to your lodgings." Says the officer to her stiffly, tearing her from her thoughts. "I've been ordered to quarter her in one of the single lodgings on the other side of the fortress," the man explains and continues stiffly through the corridors, which all look the same to her. A door opens and gives a view of a kind of residential complex. He lets her go in, informs her that food will be brought to her three times a day and says goodbye again. 

When the door is closed again, she has the opportunity to look around in the huge room. Everything is in white as usual, which seems to be a strong contrast to the outer wall of the fortress. 

In this room there is a comfortable looking sofa, a small table in front of it and a kind of desk. In the room beside it there is a luxurious looking bathroom with all the necessary knick-knacks, among others also a shower and a huge bathtub that is embedded into the floor.   
For a moment she sees herself lying there and relaxing. 

In the room on the other side is a bed and a cupboard. There is also a large window that reaches down to the floor and looks out into the forest. The view is unbelievable, it shows a beautiful panorama and gives a view of the mountains in the distance and the setting sun. 

She pushes the light white curtains aside and opens both wing doors. Then she lets the fresh air of the forest blow into her room.  
Yes, she could really get used to this. It's all very different from the places she had already visited. She takes the chair from her desk, pushes it in front of the open glass doors, sits down in front of it and enjoys the last moments of the sunset. 

She has never seen such a beautiful place before. She thinks back to the eternal desert on Jakku and the rough rocks on Ahch-To. Neither of these two places will ever really miss her. No, it's the green that she likes, trees, forests, and ... what's the word for it again ... where there is a lot of grass? She just doesn't want to think about it. She once saw it in a picture book from a faraway planet.

Somehow, she can't manage to sit still. A little restless she goes out into the hall.  
Probably she would get lost, but if she was expected to stay here longer, she should at least be able to explore the fortress a little.

In this corridor there seems to be only shelter. I wonder if his room is here somewhere?

After she has gone around a few corners, Rey gets into an elevator. She chooses the top floor.   
During the ride she thinks about her last lift ride with Ben. Involuntarily she has to smile a bit, but she doesn't know exactly why. 

When the door opens at the top of the lift, her smile instantly disappears. She has obviously arrived at the command centre and suddenly all eyes are on her.   
A storm trooper standing next to the lift salutes her.   
"Are you lost Mistress Rey? The Supreme Leader should..."  
"No! She interrupts him.   
"I can find my own way back. She steps back in the elevator and pushes the button for another floor. 

"As far as I know, they were given clean clothes in their room. "I... would advise you... that you put on something sensible for the duration of your stay!" he throws at her head before the door is closed.

She purses her lips in annoyance. But it's true. She is still wearing the slightly damaged clothes from the fight against Snoke's bodyguard.

Later in her accommodation she immediately inspects the cupboard in her bedroom. There are actually some simple pieces of clothing hanging there. Not what she would normally wear but some trousers, shirts and tunics in different unobtrusive colours. 

On her bed there is even a kind of pyjamas. A pair of shorts and a sleeveless white shirt. In the living room they also gave her a plate with fruits and some bread. She ignores the food and decides to take a shower and wash the last days (and weeks) off herself.

When she goes back into the bedroom in her short pyjamas with still wet hair, she notices that the French doors have been closed again. She opens them again, pulls the chair back in front of it, sits down and wraps her arms around her legs. She puts her chin on her knees and closes her eyes. All you can hear is the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees.

Suddenly she feels a gentle pull in the power and his presence in her mind.

"I hope you like it all." She sees Kylo standing beside her.   
"It's perfect." Rey closes her eyes again and feels the air on her skin.  
"How is it that this kind of connection still exists between us?" She asks him and looks right back at him. 

He seems to have sat down somewhere because he is now at her eye level.  
"I don't know exactly. Snoke said that he had created this force connection between us... but for whatever reason, perhaps it will work to our advantage."  
Rey doesn't answer that, she looks out into the woods. 

A strange silence fills the room. This has happened so many times now.   
At first, she would have liked to throw stones at his head... or words like 'monster'. But instead of her hatred for him, now there was a kind of emptiness. And a certain amount of affection.

"I can't sleep. I'm still too shaken." hold his voice in her head again.  
"I can't sleep either. I've rested too much on the ship already, I'm afraid." she answers and smiles at him.  
"With me it's rather that... I can't understand it all yet. With everything that has happened I am far too calm. And then I have you here?"

Ben strokes his hair excitedly and sighs. "That's all..." "...a lot at once." she ends his sentence. They stare at each other for a while. Eventually, she thinks she can tell that his gaze is softening. 

"We'll start training tomorrow and I want to show you around the base so you won't get lost and make people in the command centre nervous." Finally, he had a slight mischief in his voice. 

She has to look away embarrassed at the memory of her brief excursion.   
"Fine, but please come and get me, because I don't know where you are... and besides, I'm not lost, I was just... exploring the base!" 

He can't help but smile at her words. "All right." Before the connection is broken, he says in a calm voice, "Good night, Rey."

It's as if part of her anger towards him has just vanished into nothing. It's like a calm lake drifting inside her. There's no reason for anger now, is there?  
Rey feels her aching muscles now more than ever and decides to rest for tomorrow after all.

If she knew what she was in for...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments.  
> I am very pleased.  
> Stay healthy, everyone,   
> Your Lori ♥


	4. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Rey have their first training session ... but it doesn't end as Rey had imagined.

"Damn it!" Kylo rams his fist into the equipment next to him so that some sparks fly. Angrily, he turns around and stomps towards the man who had already staggered back a few steps at the beginning of Kylo's escape. 

"I will never tolerate such a thing again! Otherwise I will take other measures!" While he says this, he grabs the man by the collar and then pushes him to the ground. With his coat flowing, he leaves the room. 

Rey takes cover in an alcove and presses herself against the wall. She is sure that he hasn't noticed her. She hurries back to her room. As soon as the door is closed again, she leans her back against the wall and exhales once.

Spying so early, running through the corridors... He was really angry! At what? 

It seems that two personalities in him are fighting for supremacy. The angry devil who could wipe out everything and everyone and the vulnerable boy who feels betrayed by everyone and has committed terrible crimes.

But in spite of all her experiences, neither one side nor the other frightens her. It is just there, he is angry and hurt, although he does not admit it.

The heavy steps come closer and closer, it is the typical fast pace she is used to.  
She stands upright and straightens her robe. It is a simple moss-green tunic with beige pants and a leather belt. Apparently, the person who gave her the clothes was told what she usually wears.

"Good morning" The deep voice echoes across the room. Slowly she turns around and puts on a neutral face.  
"Come! We have a lot on the agenda." Kylo is still rough and tense. Without waiting, he goes ahead and hardly gives Rey time to put her lightsaber on her belt.

Outside, the air is cool. The wind blows softly and the sky is covered with a few clouds. It seems so peaceful as the wind blows through the leaves and the birds chirp. They have a beautiful blue plumage and a pleasant bright singing voice. Another species she has not yet met.( Little note in the margin: I was thinking of 'The Big Bang Theory' and Sheldon's blue jay.)

"Why did you choose this place for your base?" asks Rey and stumbles over roots and stones afterwards.  
"That was for strategic reasons," he replies curtly and continues.  
Once again, he is not very talkative! If she is to rule with him, he has to start giving more of himself.

"All right, stand here!" Kylo suddenly stops and points to a clearing in front of him. Here the ground is fairly even, only rocks and small trees are scattered over the area.  
"I'll teach you all I can, but you're already quite talented with the lightsaber..."

He takes off his cape and throws it to the side.  
With the familiar hiss his red lightsaber appears. Rey draws her blue one and places herself in fighting position. 

"Give it all you've got!" he says and looks at her through the hair that falls to his face.  
A fierce exchange of blows begins. They give each other nothing and seem to see each other's punches beforehand. One time she can dodge his blow by throwing herself flat on the floor, another time he dodges her blow by making an elaborate turn.

The fight goes on for almost an hour and both have to breathe more heavily already. Her fighting field also looks very damaged. In the background a medium sized tree just falls, which one of the two lightsabers had cut half of.

They both face each other, breathing heavily and staring at each other. He retracts his lightsaber again and stands up straight.   
"You really are incredibly good with a sword." She does the same and puts hers back on the leather belt. 

"Thanks." She replies and wipes the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand.   
"You're not so bad yourself." Fortunately, her skin is already very hot and you can't see the blush on her face.

"But what about controlling force and manipulating things?"  
On his instructions, she tries to lift a seemingly small stone out of the ground. When she can pull it out of the ground with a loud cracking sound, they both realize that the part of the stone that you could see and that was about the size of a head is about the size of a speeder. 

Kylo and Rey both have to take a few steps back to avoid being hit by debris. She tries to let him slowly slide to the side, but is a bit careless and carries him into a huge tree.   
With an ear-splitting noise the rock crashes through the tree trunk and forces it to collapse. The treetop flies directly towards Rey but Kylo pulls it with a forceful thrust directly into his arms to safety. 

She is now so close to him again that she could think her heart would jump out of her chest. But maybe that's just the adrenaline.

Embarrassed, she looks up into his eyes. He still stares at the rock, which has now cut a grey hole in the green undergrowth. She can't interpret his look and tries to pull him back into the here and now with a breathy "Thank you!” She succeeds. He looks at her again. His gaze, as so often, is unfathomable. 

He puts his hands on her shoulders, pushes her a little bit away from him (which, admittedly, gives her a little sting) and says: "Good! And what about manipulating people?"   
Now she looks at him with a smile. "How do you think I escaped you the first time at Starkiller Base?!"   
"Controlling mentally deficient foot soldiers is really not that challenging! But would you be able to manipulate me or... or escape my control?!" 

Involuntarily she must swallow a little. When they first met, he had put her in a power stasis and stunned her consciousness. In fact, she didn't know if she could resist.

"So..." he takes a few steps away from her and turns back to "Try to resist me!" He raises his hand and immediately she feels a strong pull. She can't resist. He holds her in an uncomfortable stare. Only with some effort did she manage to move a little.

"Come on! You must fight more, you must resist more... so it's more fun!"  
"Is this fun for you?" she squeezed them out of clenched teeth.  
"I must admit... I do get a certain amount of pleasure out of this. I've always had a certain amount of pleasure from being around you.

She looks at him angrily now. "Am I here just to please you?"  
"Basically..." Now he walks up to her and puts his gloved hand under her chin.   
„... at least later, you will give me great pleasure!"

Rey feels the heat on her cheeks, her rage escalating. Without realizing what she is doing, her right hand frees itself from its rigidity and hurries to his face. But before she could slap him, he holds her hand on his wrist. She stares at him angrily. 

"Ts ts ts! I asked you to be my partner so you must love me... for better or worse."  
She doesn't feel fear in this situation, even when he lowers her hand. Then the expression in his eyes changes and she can no longer interpret it. 

He suddenly takes a step back and says: "I'm going to force you to come towards me now." And then the pull starts again. This time it pushes her forward but she resists. She actually manages to stop. He continues to look at her with concentration and at some point, he seems to have given up. She is still in her stiffness, but can get out of it bit by bit.

"Well, that's enough for today! Come later, after you've eaten something and cleaned up, please come to the hangar where we landed yesterday! I'll give you a tour of the base." He turns around and grabs his coat. "Wait!" she calls after him. "Could you please loosen your rigidity first?!" 

He looks at her and smiles. "Why? There's something charming about your situation." She feels the pressure building up again and he comes towards her. She gets a little nervous when he's right in front of her. 

To her great surprise, he leans over and... ...kisses her. Firm and demanding, without much love behind it. Nevertheless, her heart beats several times in this moment of touching and a spark is created in her chest, which sends a flame out.

When it is released, Rey stops trembling in the forest. The wind now feels cold on her heated skin. What was that? 

Incredulous, she first looks after him, then gently touches her lips with her fingertips. A forced moment among enemies who are suddenly supposed to be allies. The brown-haired one clenches her fist and stamps back in the direction she came from. No! She can't accept it like that.   
"Arrrgghh! Ben! You damned idiot!" she yells into the forest and is ashamed of it again a second later.

"I'm sure he won't have noticed," she hopes inwardly. Yes, he has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments and the kudos.
> 
> Stay healthy and see you tomorrow.
> 
> Your Lori ♥


	5. The new Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo has a guilty conscience about his behavior and Rey is upset. but then...

Immersed in thought and with folded arms, she runs into the large building that is now to be her home.   
It is not yet midday and yet she is totally exhausted by the training (and what came after). Physically as well as emotionally. 

They want to form a new government together, but how will that work if they don't really trust each other?   
Maybe she could send Finn a message. I wonder how he is doing? She hadn't heard from him since he was so badly hurt. He had come all the way to Starkiller Base to rescue her. And what did it cost him? He almost died in the ensuing fight against Ben... Kylo?   
No, she can't send a message to Finn! That wouldn't exactly help build trust. 

Arriving in her room and still lost in thought, the first thing she hears is metal clanging on the floor. She is startled, straightens up, grabs her lightsaber and as soon as the hissing sounds, the screaming begins. 

"NO! No please! Do not kill me! I am sorry! I will never drop anything again! Please spare me.” 

A servant, it seems, had put some food in Rey's room and was so startled when she entered that she dropped a metal plate. Rey immediately puts her sword away, goes to the floor, picks up the plate, puts it down on the small table and slowly slides towards the still whimpering servant. 

With a calming voice she tries to calm her down. "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. I only frightened myself. You dropped a plate? So what! I drop things sometimes too. It's not the end of the world!" 

At least the maid stops whimpering. She slowly gets up, smoothes her dress back to its original shape, stands up with her hands crossed and her head bowed, mumbles: "That will never happen again!" and hurries out of the room. Before Rey can say anything, she is gone. 

She was a Twi`lek. I wonder if she was a slave. She absolutely has to talk to him about slavery later. There can't be such a thing anymore! 

Kylo stands with clenched fist in the big hangar where a smaller transport ship is landing. Some crates are unloaded and new soldiers arrive. 

He is agitated. Actually it is all the way he wanted it. He has the power and he will share it with his princess. She would stand with him in a beautiful dress shining like the stars and rule the universe together with him. 

It needs a balance and he had promised to create one with Rey. But if things weren't so terribly difficult. Kylo thinks he's behaving like a toddler. And the fact that he left, he certainly didn't make a better impression. 

You force her to love you? Or wait for it to come naturally?   
This is all nonsense! She would never be attracted to him! She called him a monster... ...a murderer. How could she feel anything for such a creature?   
But if he really forced her to, she'd definitely withdraw from him... or even flee. And that's exactly what he wanted to prevent. He wanted to keep her close. 

Kylo relaxes his fists and takes off his glove. He looks at the hand that he had touched her fingers with. Her little fingers... 

I wonder what his mother would have said to him at that moment. What advice would she have come to him with?   
She used to talk a lot about the time with his father and always had that dreamy look in her eyes. 

_"Be honest and not too rough. Then everything will be fine." _That's probably what she would have told him.  
Well, it's worth a try. Maybe he should start by combing his hair and do something about his impulsive behavior. She called him an idiot. __

__He was supposed to show her the outside perimeter tomorrow. And now he was going to show her... his favorite spot._ _

__"I...am here." Suddenly she's behind him. Rey looks treading water.  
"Listen..." he starts and immediately changes his mind. He puts his glove back on and tells her to go ahead.   
"What did you want to say?" she asks him instead of going further.   
"Never mind," he replies and asks her again to go on._ _

__He shows her the whole base. Where the soldiers' quarters are, and the servants' quarters. The kitchens, the individual rooms with control panels, the large recreation room of the soldiers, the military hospital, and also once again the control center, which she had already visited yesterday. He answers her questions in a friendly but objective manner. Every time he comes closer to her, she seems to move away from him involuntarily._ _

__When they have looked at almost everything, she turns to him with a neutral face and asks him: "Should I wait for you in the forest tomorrow morning for training?”  
She's still mad at him. She called him an idiot.   
"No, I'd be happy to pick you up again." _ _

__She's about to turn around and go, "No, wait!" He grabs her by the arm.  
She looks first at his hand holding her arm, then stares angrily into his eyes. He lets go slowly and calmly says, "I want to show you something else." _ _

__Her lips form a thin line while she still stares at him angrily. Then she nods briefly, relaxes again and follows him._ _

__He takes her behind the control centre to a stairwell. It seems to connect all floors. They walk up the stairs.  
"This staircase was once used by the servants, but now... Never mind." There's something he's not telling her. Again. _ _

__When they have left the last staircase behind them Kylo presses four numbers on a small control panel next to a door and after a click he pushes the door open._ _

__They are now on the top roof and the view is simply breathtaking. She takes a few steps to the parapet and stares at the mountains that adorn the landscape in the distance.  
The sun is already about to set again. Kylo stops where he is and stares at the back of her head. He has not been so nervous for a long time. Would she continue to punish him with contempt or...? _ _

__"This planet is really beautiful," she says, somewhat tonelessly. He dares to take a few steps towards her. When she turns halfway towards him, he stops abruptly._ _

__"You know... That was my first kiss."  
He stole it from her. He suddenly realizes how inexperienced she really is... and how young.   
"Were there no other boys on Jakku?" ...silence... "Or with the rebels?" ... another long silence. He involuntarily thinks of the traitor FN2187, and rage rises in him. _ _

__Then she replies: "On Jakku … ...I was less concerned about such things...” She remains silent again for a while.  
"It's not that I am afraid of contact ... but I can't trust you just like that. Not after you--"   
"I know...! And I will try hard to earn your trust." _ _

__She turns back towards the sunset and asks: "Is this planet as remote as Jakku?"  
"It's more of an advantage because it's nowhere on record."   
"That means the rebels won't be able to find him?!" Did she really just ask that?! _ _

__They remain silent for quite a while, until he finally turns around and says: "If you want to call them here, you're welcome to do so." Another prolonged silence and his rage escalates to unbelievable levels._ _

__Then suddenly it bursts out of him.  
"If I could take it back, I would... but I can't. I'm sorry that I... that I'm such an idiot!" _ _

__He's about to leave when he feels her hand on him. He turns his head back and sees how his hand is holding on with both hands and his eyes lowered. He turns completely to her, but his hand does not let go of her yet. On the contrary, she takes off his glove and brings his hand to her cheek. As soon as they touch, it happens again immediately. Like the night when their fingers touched, they flinched from visions of a possible future. And again, a single tear steals from her eye and rolls down her cheek, only this time he can catch it with his thumb and wipe it away._ _

__Every feeling of anger has been washed away by the touch and nothing remains but her.  
Her skin feels warm and soft. They both look each other in the eyes for what feels like an eternity, then at the same moment they seem to find this situation unpleasant and pull their hands away again. Embarrassed, she looks down. _ _

__"Maybe we can start being friends first?!" she then says in a slightly embarrassed tone. He doesn't know exactly what to do with this situation and answers with a short "Yes."_ _

__He then leads her back to her room and says goodbye with a quiet "Good night!" and a slightly implied bow.  
When he hears the door close behind him, he hurries to his own room immediately, breathing heavily, and takes his coat off his body, but that doesn't make it any better. He also takes off his top and gloves. Then he stares at his hands. The hand with which he touched her cheek. Her soft skin. _ _

__'Being friends...' He had never had anything like 'friends'.  
The visions he had were about the same as he had had back then, only this time he saw a different image, one that he now wanted more than anything else. _She lies next to him, says his name 'Ben' and smiles as she does so. And he holds her hand _.___ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a nice weekend and stay healthy!
> 
> Your Lori ♥


	6. The new Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter name actually says it all.  
> Rey is getting a new friend.

This time, the chair is positioned laterally in front of the window, so that she can sit on the chair with one leg bent and one arm resting on the backrest.

How could it have come to this?  
She had not slept all night. She couldn't stop thinking about the visions... ...of this new...  
_saying her name and... smiling _. She thinks that his smile makes him look like a little boy in this vision.__

__Again and again during the night, she noticed that her heart stopped beating a few times each time she sees his smile._ _

__Friends! This is what she would work towards._ _

__Then she heard the door slide open.  
Rey jumped up, underestimated her fallen asleep leg, came through the door to the living room just as her leg gave way and she lay down once lengthwise.  
And then something metallic falls down. _ _

__Would have been strange, too, if the servant hadn't been frightened by this strange scene. Can you really not blame her!_ _

__Rey struggles again and apologizes over and over again ... just like the servant.  
After both of them complained about their clumsiness they stand in front of each other and Rey has to start laughing spontaneously. She has to laugh so hard that she holds her stomach. She hasn't felt like laughing in days... or even weeks._ _

__When she calms down again, the servant has already picked up the dropped dishes.  
"Please forgive me for scaring you again!" she says after a deep breath.  
"No, you don't have to apologize, I was just..."  
"I told you not to apologize for dropping something. I underestimated that my leg fell asleep." She shrugs and asks the Twi'lek to join her on the sofa. The servant hesitates for a moment, but then sits down with her mistress._ _

__"What is your name? Can you tell me that, please?"  
The young woman is a bit irritated by the _please _but then replies: "My name is Sairah."  
"Pleased to meet you Sairah! My name is Rey."  
"Mistress Rey!"  
At first, she wants to ignore the Mistress, but Rey decides to listen to the Twi`lek.___ _

____"Please tell me Sairah, are you here of your own free will?"  
The woman was not prepared for this question. Rey is a little ashamed to approach the subject of slavery from this side._ _ _ _

____After thinking about it for some time, Sairah finally answers: "I'd much rather be here than where I was before ... before Master Ren collected us."  
"Collected?" Rey asks perplexed. What a strange word she thinks._ _ _ _

____"What do you mean, 'Collected'?"  
"There are other Twi`lek here in this base. We all used to belong to rich men who made us dance for them and... worse things. Or they made us dance for their friends... and worse..." Rey listened to her attentively and recalled an incident on Jakku. _ _ _ _

____"Our former masters did not agree to submit to the First Order and were attacked by Master Ren. He freed the slaves and brought us to this planet. We... may still be servants but... we can control ourselves. And we will no longer be forced to dance... or worse things.”_ _ _ _

____In her final words, the Twi'lek looks down at her convulsively intertwined hands.  
Rey had expected a lot, but not that Ben had built a reception camp for former slaves on this planet. ... He had something to say about the staircase yesterday... That it was once used by the servants... surely it is exhausting to have to run up and down all these stairs all day long with loaded plates and dishes..._ _ _ _

____"If you don't mind, I'll be leaving now."  
"No, wait, please!" Rey holds young Twi`lek back and looks at her more forcefully...  
"are you afraid of me?"  
The servant looks at her with a frightened look. Bull's-eye._ _ _ _

____"Bb- ...but no! How did you get up there?" asks the servant with a clear panic in her voice.  
"Because you can hardly stop shivering when you're near me," Rey answers.  
Now the Twi`lek seems to be ashamed. With high red cheeks she looks down again, stepped on again. _ _ _ _

____"Listen, I really don't mean you any harm. And to be perfectly honest... I could use some company sometimes... ...I'm kind of lonely here." With those words, the Twi'lek must look up again and look at Rey with astonishment.  
"But master Ren spends so much time with you." "yes, but sometimes..."  
She doesn't really want to admit that sometimes being around Ben makes her a little uncomfortable._ _ _ _

____Immediately she has to think of his smile from the vision again and feels the heat rising in her face. Sairah seems to understand, because courageously (as Rey thinks) she puts her hand on Rey's.  
"I understand." Rey is suddenly no longer sure if she really does.  
"it's so suddenly that you want to make this connection?! If you wish, I will be there to advise you on how to please Master Ren." _ _ _ _

____Immediately Rey jumps up. She really doesn't understand. "NO! That's not the point...! I just wanted to ask if we could be friends."  
Sairah seems to find her misunderstanding equally unpleasant.  
"I see. Yes, I'd love to."_ _ _ _

____Rey sits down again and looks Sairah in the eyes.  
"But only if you do not feel compelled ... Why were you afraid of me?"  
Sairah seems a bit unsure whether she can really tell her everything.  
"Because you are a hero of the Evil Rebellion!"_ _ _ _

____Rey stares at her with big eyes. A hero? The 'Evil' Rebellion? She looks a little to the side and thinks about it for a moment. But of course. After all, Sairah lived here under the First Order in peace and security. For her the rebellion must be a terrible thing that wants to take away her home.  
Just another proof that there are two sides to everything._ _ _ _

____"I am not a hero! I'm just a simple girl from Jakku who, for some reason, has a force connection with Ben ... I mean Kylo Ren. “  
Rey really did not expect the following question.  
"Do you love Master Ren?"  
Rey is staring at her with those big eyes again. She is still hoping that Sairah will give up on her own but after a while she realizes that the servant is really waiting for an answer. _ _ _ _

____"I... don't know exactly." That was the truest answer she could give her.  
Sairah seems content with that.  
"I'll bring you lunch later." She says, as she gets up to go to the door. But this time it is herself who stops and turns around again. _ _ _ _

____"I almost forgot to tell you Master Ren is expecting you in the great throne room today."  
"But what about training?" Rey asks somewhat disappointed.  
"He wants to show you around today. He wants you to move freely outside the base."  
With these words Sairah leaves the room again, leaving a stunned Rey behind._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Kylo stands before the throne with folded arms. He is deep in thought when he hears a clearing behind him. He turns around slightly and can see that Rey is not satisfied. To ask her what she has now would probably not be such a good idea..., luckily he hasn't done that._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____"I've been informed that you want to show me around so I can move freely outside the base." Kylo has a bad feeling.  
"Am I not allowed to do that yet?"  
Kylo turns back to the throne and rolls his eyes a little. "I should watch my language from now on."_ _ _ _

____Rey purses her lips and doesn't say anything. Kylo now turns to her.  
"Of course, I didn't mean it that way. But I wanted to spend some free time with you today without having a workout in mind." She seems to be satisfied with this answer, because her expression relaxes again. _ _ _ _

____"But as a matter of fact, I have a little workout in mind... I want to test your reflexes and instincts."  
"So?! And how do you want to do that?" she says as she crosses her arms.  
"By exploring the planet on speeders." Rey raises an eyebrow and snappishly replies: "You do realize that I rode a speeder on Jakku in the desert every day?!"  
"Yes, but not through a dense forest!"  
She had to agree with him. He's walking slowly towards her now.  
"I must admit, you never cease to surprise me," she remarks defiantly.  
"I do what I can to please my princess." He says his last words as he is already walking past her, and that is the only reason he cannot see her blushing face._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments and kudos.
> 
> Have a nice weekend and stay healthy!
> 
> Your Lori ♥


	7. The Speeder-Race

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Rey enjoy some free time together.

The ride with the speeders really made Rey very happy. The fast ride through the woods was challenging and difficult. When they eventually reach the end of the forest, they come to a huge field. A big untouched meadow. That was the word that didn't occur to her when she arrived. A meadow! 

She watches briefly as the grass gently blows in the wind. Rey and Kylo hover with their speeders between the trees and enjoy the view over the expanse. In the distance you can see more woods. Rey gets an idea. 

"Let's race!"   
"What?"   
"From here to the next tree line... over there and back again."   
It points to a wood that seems to be about two miles away. 

Kylo is exciting the game, and he agrees. The next moment she dashes off and he comes after her. She quickly manages to leave him behind, but is surprised when he reaches the timberline in front of her. On the way back, she can catch up with him again and can win the race by a narrow margin. 

When they arrive, they get off and Rey runs towards the meadow. This time no leg has fallen asleep but still she falls over a raised ground Kylo runs to her and gives her his hand to help her up, but instead of being pulled up she pulls him to her on the floor. He lands beside her in the grass and she starts to laugh heartily. 

They're both lying with their backs in the grass and at some point, he just says, "I like it when you laugh."   
She slowly stops laughing and looks at him with bright eyes.   
"I'd love to see you laugh too." But he's just looking up at the sky. She decides to leave it at that and does the same for him. 

At some point she seems to have her eyes closed, because when she opens them again, he has bent over her and looks at her urgently.   
"We should turn back slowly." 

She straightens up and then suddenly their faces are inches apart. Her mouth is slightly open and she looks at him expectantly. She simply cannot interpret his look. 

Then he stands up and gives her his hand again. This time she lets herself be pulled up and they both go back to the speeders in silence. As she takes one last look across the meadow, she says longingly: "I never thought there were such beautiful places in the universe. I would like to come back here someday." 

He just looks at her in her words and then says: "I want to show you another beautiful place. He's also very close to the base. You can get there on foot."

When they get back to the base, they put the speeder down and walk along a narrow path through the trees.   
"This way. There is a lake. It's the pride of the planet," he explains, pushing aside a few branches. Rey followed him along the path, but didn't say a word. He can't blame her. He didn't behave properly, or did he? Should he have done something in the meadow? Wasn't he?

In front of them lies a calm lake where the water shimmers emerald green in the sun. Surrounded by a rocky beach and the forest, it's a very pretty spot. 

"When the moon shines on the lake, it is said to be particularly enchanting here." he says in a calm voice.  
Kylo kneels down by the water, takes off a glove and reaches in. It feels freezing cold. He gets up again and turns to her. She looks at the lake full of admiration and then asks: "It is really beautiful. Can you swim in it?"   
Rey stands beside him on the shore and touches the water as well. 

"What is the effect of the green water?" She asks curiously.  
"The stones are covered with a special alga as far as I know. The water shimmers so green because of it," the dark-haired man explains calmly and kneels down next to her. 

"We can swim in it, I haven't been able to do that for many years," he explains and a slight tone of nostalgia resonates in his voice.  
Rey gets up again and brushes his hair straight. "Well, ... I never learned to swim. I never had to in the desert.”

"If you want, I can teach you how to swim. It's not difficult."  
Does he see hesitation in her eyes? Then he remembered the somewhat odd incident when he wore nothing on top during practice and connected with Rey in a second. 

He had liked her slight embarrassment. He thought it was cute when she asked him for something... something to wear.

"I don't know exactly," she just said and went back to the forest.  
How would he gain her trust? If only he had something to inspire her with, something to get to know her better. Anyway, this was already better received than his damn action after yesterday's training. 

Of course, he's trying to get her attention but if he goes too hard he'll just scare her away... and yet he had the feeling that he should have done something earlier on in the meadow when they got so close.

"What do you want to do now? We'd have the mountains a bit further on, that's still rather unexplored territory."   
He explained to her and stumbled over a root. He comes after her cursing and when he looks up, a rather amused woman looks him in the face, which you can tell she has to refrain from laughing. 

"Who would have thought that you could keep your composure so well if you wanted to," she says and giggles softly. Kylo breathes in and out and straightens up again. "My princess! I should probably always show my most dignified side. I'm sorry that they had to see my... less elegant side."

Now she can't hold it back anymore. She starts laughing out loud, holding her stomach to those silly words. "A little less stiff and you'll look more likeable. Remember that," she says all of a sudden and almost gets him off balance. 

"If that's what you mean, I'll do my best." If only it weren't so difficult for him. There's always a part of him that wants to touch her, force her or not. Somehow it has to be. With clenched fists, he pushes the thoughts away again. 

"Let's go back. I have some unfinished business to attend to and... and should probably watch out for attacks."   
Rey stops laughing immediately and gets serious again.

"We have to decide together, I promised. I know." he reacts immediately.  
"Yes, in order to maintain balance, we should probably form an alliance... form a 'Grey Alliance'. ... and stop killing innocent people."  
By that, she means the resistance and her allies. Her former allies she left behind for him.

"I get it. We can work together to find a way to redistribute power in the universe. Together with the others, we can form a Grey Alliance..." 

He looks at her approvingly. "Then I can find more time for you and your training."  
Ben is already on his way. He won't wait for her.   
"Good. We can do it that way. Maybe I can make friends with other people on the base... well, I've already made friends with Sairah. She is very friendly."

There's that one question on Kylo's tongue... should he ask it now? Earlier he couldn't find the courage to act, but now...  
"You're welcome to sleep in my room and we can... break the ice between us." 

This time it's Rey who stumbles. Sure, because his offer comes so suddenly.  
"I won't force you. It was just an idea." he defends himself quickly as he helps her back up.  
"it's... okay. I'll... think about it." the last words almost come thick and fast as she feels her heart is beating up to her neck.

To his surprise, her cheeks turned red again. It seems to be going in the right direction.  
And in the process, he gets an idea that he wants to try out with her later.

Like every evening in the meantime she sits on the chair at the big window again and watches the wonderful sunset behind the mountains. Until recently Sairah was still with her and had (at Rey's insistence) shared the dinner with her. 

She has become very likeable to her in the meantime. She told her about a storm trooper - captain, with whom she was in love. If it is allowed some time, she would like to marry him. 

When Rey told her about her day with Kylo, she had told her that there was a small village behind the forest where they had their race. In this settlement there are probably some former slaves living in safety of whom even the First Order didn't really know anything..., only Master Ren... as Sairah always calls him.  
Even if it was unconsciously done... but Ben had created a little paradise here... for himself and for others.

He comes around to her and sits down next to her. He looks at her face for a while and then says, "Do you like watching the sunset?"   
"Hello! I thought you couldn't see my surroundings," she asks in surprise.   
"So it is..." he says calmly and with a slight smile on his lips "...but I can see the light on your face."

Now he smiles a little more.   
"It looks enchanting."   
After a while he says: "I can see you blushing, too."   
At that moment she actually puts her legs on and puts her face on her knees so that he can't see it anymore (like a shy little child).

"Please don't hide!"  
She slowly looks at him again and still recognizes a certain amusement in his expression. So she pulls a slight snort again. He finds her even cuter that way. 

Then he stretches out his hand and strokes her naughty little streak behind her ear. She doesn't shy away from his touch. She only looks him in the eyes. As always, his gaze is unfathomable.

"Stand up for a moment, please. I want to try something else."  
She does as he says and stands in front of him. He is now wearing only trousers and a half-open shirt that exposes part of his chest. So, she concentrates a bit more on looking him straight in the eyes. And most of all she ignores the fact that she only wears her short sleeping clothes.

They are now standing directly opposite each other and his look takes on a different expression.   
"I just want to test something... you can stop any moment!"  
For a long time, they only look at each other and then he bends over her again and stops moving just before her lips touch.   
His eyes are half closed, but he still observes every movement of her face. 

It is a seemingly endless moment ... and it seems almost like this to her ... he's waiting for her approval. Her agreement to kiss her. She already holds her head up a little and before she could explain why...her feet have lifted the missing piece to his mouth. 

This kiss is different from the one the day before. It is gentle... almost tentative.  
But as quickly as it came... as quickly as it disappeared and she is left with nothing but an unknown feeling of dissatisfaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the beautiful Sunday! Here in Germany we have pleasant 27°C and no rain.
> 
> Stay healthy! Your Lori ♥


	8. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reys training becomes more difficult and Kylo gets news from Genral Hux.

Again, she could not sleep all night. Every time she came to rest a little, a short thought of the kiss had made her wide awake again. She had felt all night long, lying awake and staring at the ceiling. If he felt the same way... but why did the connection break? Had he broken it... or was it her? Had she recoiled unconsciously? Then why was she so dissatisfied? 

The truth was, she had to admit at some point that she wanted to continue the kiss. She wanted so much to know where it was going... But when did she start thinking like that? Since that moment in the meadow? Since his apology on the roof? Since his forced kiss after practice? Or even before that?

The training. There'd be more today. And how would she behave? How should she act? Frustrated, she pulled a pillow over her face and gave a scream, smothered by the pillow.

"Mistress Rey!"  
That is the voice of Sairah. Rey throws the pillow over her face and stands up.  
With a slightly worried look, the Twi`lek looks at her mistress. 

"Good morning! Are you well?"  
"Yes, thank you. Good morning to you too," Rey answers, stands up and stretches herself with pleasure. She feels how tense her muscles are and blames it on the lack of sleep.

Sairah still seems to be slightly worried, which you can see from her contracted eyebrows.  
But for now, she seems to ignore it. While Rey freshens up in the bathroom and puts on something clean Sairah prepares breakfast in the living room. 

When Rey takes a quick look in the mirror she has to realize that she is slowly beginning to notice the lack of sleep. Deep shadows adorn her eyes. With her fingertips she gently touches the spots and thinks about what Ben would say about it. Would he even notice?

Arriving in the living room Sairah looks at her anxiously again when Rey starts to eat something. Her appetite has also decreased since she has been on the planet. "Don't you want to eat something as well?" she asks the young servant. She just waves and says that she has already eaten.

"With your permission, I don't think you look well."  
Rey puts away the piece of fruit she is nibbling on and puts on a smile. "I'm fine!... I just haven't been sleeping well the last few nights."  
Sairah sits down with Rey on the sofa and grabs her hand.  
"Is it because of Master Ren? I heard that he hasn't been able to sleep either for some time now... and he doesn't seem to be eating much." 

Rey must listen. He doesn't sleep and he doesn't eat properly. She immediately feels anxiety rising. 

"He is very busy today and asked me to assist you with your training."  
"What? He... skipping practice again?"  
"He's got a lot of prep work to do today, so he's gonna have to do some radio calls. I understand he wants to tell you about it later." 

Rey is actually a little disappointed she won't be able to spend the day with him. She's really starting to worry about her thoughts. Why is she upset that she can't spend the day with him?

"If you're not feeling well, we can always postpone your training until tomorrow, ... Master Ren will have time for you again."  
For a moment, Rey really thought about it. but then she comes to her senses. The training is important and she has to get used to the fact that he doesn't have time for her. She can't run after him like a little pet all the time.  
"No, I look forward to your company at practice."  
And with a smile on her face, Sairah seems satisfied.

Rey follows Sairah to the place where she had trained with Ben two days before. The surroundings still show the traces of the devastation that she and Ben inflicted on her.

"Well..." the Twi'lek begin.  
"We're supposed to walk from here to the lake once."  
What a strange workout! Says Rey. But she follows her. Sairah seems to know the forest a lot better than she does. The way from the training ground to the lake is a bit further because they have to run once around the whole fort.  
At one point there is even a small crevice in the ground that can only be crossed by a fallen tree. 

Arrived at the lake Sairah takes out of her bag, which she carries with her, a metal black ball. It seems to be a small robot. She has actually seen something like this lying around on the falcon before. Sairah puts the little robot on the floor and takes a little remote control out of her bag. She turns the robot on briefly to test if it works. She programs something into it and then asks Rey to put her lightsaber on one of the bigger stones and go back to the training ground with her. 

Back there Sairah finally explains to her how the training session should be done.  
Rey should run blindfolded from the training ground to the lake, get her lightsaber and run back again. On the way back, the training robot would follow her and attack her with small laser shots. She should block them with her lightsaber. Sairah would wait on the training ground and stop the time. She should sense her surroundings through the Force alone and rely on her instincts.

Rey stands in starting position and blindfolds herself. In fact, she can't see anything anymore. After a short period of concentration Sairah gives the start signal.  
Rey runs as fast as she can. Due to her sense of feeling she can see the surroundings well even without her eyes. Arriving at the lake she lets her lightsaber fly towards her and is immediately attacked by the training robot. She cannot even parry half of the shots. She often has to stop and grasp in her mind from which direction the robot could shoot next.

This kind of training is very difficult for her and she also has to admit that the lack of sleep costs her a lot of strength. She can still do the first run. But with the next ones she has to give up every time, because she falls down all the time and can't defend herself against the robot anymore.

In the end she is overlooked by abrasions and bruises. Sairah had suggested her to stop training several times but Rey just wouldn't give up. She could only be persuaded to return to the base when Sairah said that _she_ would be tired.

When she arrives at her room she is so exhausted that she immediately throws herself on her bed and after a short time just falls asleep.  
But she only sleeps for a short time. She is startled by a terrible nightmare.  
She feels her heart racing and seems to forget the dream immediately. Because she just can't remember why she is so excited and why there are tears in her eyes. She only knows that it was something with Ben. She was crying for Ben.

"What do you want General Hux for?"  
Before Kylo, the hologram of the general he once called a rabid mutt rises up.  
"I want to tell you that the loss of Supremacy is absolutely unacceptable..."  
"What do you want?" Kylo interrupts the General's brief outburst.  
The General seems to need to calm down for a moment and then starts again.  
"We cannot afford even the slightest sign of weakness..."  
"If you don't tell me what you want from me right now, I'm going to end this conversation!" he interrupts it again.  
Now Hux seems to almost explode and Kylo leans back victoriously.

"I plan to come to your base in a few days to arrest the _scavenger_!"  
"You mean my fellow and you leave that alone!" Kylo replies quickly and immediately slightly irritated.  
"She is an enemy of the First Order! Have you forgotten that again?... Supreme Leader?"  
"There will soon be no First Order, have you forgotten that already. Two days ago, I gave an order to all troops to restructure the First Order! As far as I know, your troops received the order."

The general clenches his fists and releases them again. He does that again and again until he can talk.  
"I will still come to you and convince myself that the scav... that your fellow in the new cause... „  
"The Grey Alliance!" the black-haired man interrupts him again.  
"...is also loyal to the Grey Alliance!  
Kylo ponders for a moment, then replies: "Do what you cannot help doing. Tomorrow morning, a message will be sent out to all parts of the universe, announcing that the light and dark sides of the Force will join forces and form a Grey Alliance, as mentioned above, with Mistress Rey and myself at the head! Then we will see how things will continue. ... with you too General Hux!"

The General is not at all enthusiastic about this news, as you can clearly see from the expression on his face.  
"As you command Supreme Leader. See you in about two days!"  
And with those words, Hux's hologram disappears again.

Kylo now sits alone in the conference room and leans his chin on his crossed fingers.  
He must watch this Hux very carefully. If he makes the effort, he could ruin everything he plans with Rey.  
He will have to initiate Rey into all "ruler procedures" as soon as possible.  
She must be able to rule without him.

And he must deepen the connection between them.  
With a deep sigh, he leans back in his chair and covers his eyes with his forearm.  
The last few nights he could hardly or not at all sleep.  
Either he had dreams of Ray's smile, or nightmares of her demise. Each time, he woke up in a cold sweat and couldn't find any peace. Or worse, he dreamt of her lying under him, writhing with lust. 

Always there is that little spark that wants to break out and let the passion fall over her like a beast. And then it's always as if something warm were flowing down his belly. Especially after that last night when they kissed... Her lips pressed so softly against his. If he hadn't cut the connection, he would have gone too far. For that reason alone, it would be better for her to spend today's training without him. But now, as the afternoon grows late... he realizes that he misses her.

He gets up and walks through the command center towards the elevator. In passing, he waves the stormtrooper who is holding the door to him. Maybe he should invite her for dinner tonight and show her how nice it can be on the base. Yeah, that sounds good.  
"Do you need anything, Supreme Leader?" the soldier asks as the door closes to you from the lift.  
"Yes, have the big dining room prepared for tonight, I want to have dinner there with my fellow. Send her an invitation and instruct Sairah to have some clothes ready for her!" he says to the storm trooper who nods violently and as soon as the door opens he runs off.  
A very diligent one!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks a lot for the kudos and the 'comments'.  
> I wish you a good start into the week.  
> Stay healthy your Lori ♥


	9. Not the right moment...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey builds a force connection and catches Ben at a bad time...

When Rey hears her room door slide open she hopes for a moment that Ben will come to her but... It's Sairah, with a big pile of stuff.

"Uhh... can I help you?" she asks irritated.  
"No, Mistress Rey. I will spread the clothes on your bed so that you can choose one of them." it sounds muffled by all the fabric.  
"Please what?" Rey asks horrified.

Sairah drops the pile of cloth on the bed and starts to spread the clothes in different shapes and colours.  
Then she turns to Rey and explains.   
"Master Ren wishes to have dinner with you, in the great dining room. You will be expected to wear a dress."   
"Who exactly, may I ask, is expected to wear a dress?" Sairah seems neither prepared for nor able to answer this question.   
"Let's not do this." Rey wipes the whole thing away with a wave of his hand.   
"And I'm supposed to wear one of these things tonight?!"  
"Yes, and before that you should take a bath, I will clean your wounds and then do your hair." the Twi`lek responds dutifully.  
Well that's just great!

As the room door closes behind him, he throws his coat on the floor, exhausted. As a kind of symbol, he should wear only grey from now on and leave all the black. That's what makes his appearance so dark, at least that's what he had thought at the time. 

While he lets water run into the huge bathtub, his thoughts wander back to Rey. She is probably getting ready in the bathroom as well... No! He should not do that.

As soon as the tub is full of warm water and he has undressed, he climbs into the tub that is embedded in the floor and lets the heat surround him like in a bubble. It not only washes away the dirt, but also the worries of the last few days. 

Relaxed, he closes his eyes and lets his consciousness wander a little. Out into the hallways...  
Damn it! What's he doing now? Is he pretending to be the bad guy again or what? Quickly he withdraws in spirit and dives deeper into the tub.

"Hey, are you there?" There's that feeling again when someone enters his consciousness.  
"Wait, it's not that moment again..." but already he can see her.  
She's cross-legged in front of him on a chair.   
The chair by her window?   
She's now wearing nothing but light sleeveless shirt and trousers.  
"I know, but does that bother you?" she asks cheekily back. He would have least expected that from her. Rey does not look scared off at all.

"Actually, I just wanted to take a bath, but please. Please come a little closer."   
Kylo waves to her and sticks his hand out of the water. The young woman raises only one eyebrow, but then she actually gets closer to him and sits down on the floor next to him. He turns more towards her and raises his hand to her arm and touches one of the sore spots. 

"What happened?" he asks with a serious concern in his voice.   
"Oh nothing! I just... fell down a couple of times at practice," she evades.  
Now he looks at her more closely. Then he puts his hand to her cheek and strokes his thumb over the dark shadows under her eyes.   
"You can't sleep?!" he asks her... and already knows the answer...  
She also looks at him more closely now and recognizes dark shadows under his eyes.  
She touches his hand with hers, closes her eyes and enjoys his warmth for a moment. 

"It is only dreams that keep me awake... and with you?" she asks and opens her eyes again. She can already see into his mind as well as he can into hers.  
"Have you been told? I think we can talk better at the table."  
"Oh yes, but I wanted to tell you that I have never worn a dress in my life." she replies and let’s go of his hand again.   
"Sairah has given me a brand-new wardrobe and I don't feel very comfortable in it."

Kylo laughs and extends his hand to her.   
"I will be the only one to see it... and Sairah maybe. So, don't worry so much."   
Rey looks right at him.

If only he could see her surroundings, he could make that decision for her. Such a fine body in a dress, it must be quite a sight. Unconsciously, a little smile flits across his lips.

Rey looks to the side.   
"I'm sorry, but I'm just still a little confused. Everything is happening so fast and I can't even understand myself anymore. And practice today without you went terrible too..." she has to stop herself in her flow of speech. Now she leans her chin on her hands and stares slightly pouting over him.

Is he wrong or is she upset that he didn't spend the day with her?  
"Maybe... I just don't know how to deal with all of your past actions."

Now the conversation takes a slightly awkward turn, Kylo thinks to himself.  
"I don't want you to forget what I did... but I want you to believe that I'm gonna change. ...for you to... keep you with me." Now she's looking him in the eye again. 

She can find no dishonesty in it... but can she trust herself enough to walk this path by his side?  
"I did not feel guilty of my father's murder until I realized I could not kill you. Remember? When Snoke told me to execute you... I was dead inside and I chose life. The hard way and a... a better future... a future with you. You didn't follow me to the dark side, and I wasn't pulled by you to the light... it's a middle road that we'll walk together. I'm ready to take those hurdles... are you...?" he takes a long pause and then "...Together?!"

She brings a light smile. Then she thinks for a moment and decides to ask the question in a different context. Instead, she stands up again, turns away and clears away something he can't see.

"Will Sairah help you with the dress?"   
"Yes, she will be here shortly to help me put it on... and do my hair." she says with a light face (which he finds so enchanting again).  
"Well, maybe you should go slowly then, I have to get ready too," he says and grabs a towel lying on the floor next to him.   
A black one... why always black?

"All right, but I think I'll stay a little longer," she says at once. Startled, he looks at her.  
"I'll get out of the pool right away."  
"What is there that I shouldn't see?" she replies and continues looking at him. Her chin is back on her hands, after she has probably sat down on her bed.

"You're getting bolder and bolder. I'm not sure I'm supposed to like it."  
Rey giggles and closes her eyes.   
"Well, I don't want to be like that for once." 

She becomes more and more attentive and learns terribly fast. He doesn't know exactly how she handles the force but she is always ahead in conversation.

He quickly gets out of the pool and wraps the towel around his waist. On the way to the cupboard he feels the connection disappear again.  
The power of this woman is even more frightening than he thought at first. Not her physical power, but the effect she has on him.

With her eyes half closed, the young woman sits cross-legged on the only free space of her bed and watches her partner taking a bath. And cannot restrain herself from opening her eyes slightly. She catches a clear view of his butt (which is also from a not so bad world).

She quickly withdraws and denies any access to her thoughts. Thanks to the force she is at least no longer at his mercy like a helpless chick. Frustrated she throws herself onto her bed, which is still loaded with loud clothes. Now she can't get the images of him... of his naked ass out of her head. She's never seen another human being like that before. On Jakku, you better keep your clothes on your back if you don't want him to be blown away by a sandstorm.

Then she hears the saving buzz of the door. Sairah is back and will distract her with a dress and hairstyle...  
"Mistress Rey! Have you decided on one of the dresses?"  
"Yes..." she lies. Rey gets back up and looks at the pile of paint on her bed again. But again, and again her thoughts drift back to his body...   
"Aahhhhrrrrrrr! Put yourself together!!" she yells at herself and for a short moment she even forgets that she is not alone.

"Is everything alright?" Sairah asks anxiously, who just comes out of the living room with a small suitcase.   
"Uh yes, I just... never mind... I'll take... this one." she says and points to a simple light blue dress with high lacing.  
"Good." says Sairah suspiciously, but takes it aside and puts the other dresses with their tunics and trousers in the cupboard.

"What do you have in the suitcase?" asks Rey to deflect the subject away from her little loss of reality.  
" These are some clips and braces for the hair. I had one of the soldiers give them to me. They were lying around in the fund before. They must have been confiscated somewhere."  
Just don't think about it anymore. (These are not the droids you're looking for! It can happen! XP)

Sairah helps Rey into the dress and she shudders at this feeling. Never before has an article of clothing so much flattered her body. Shuddering. A slight shiver overcomes her as Sairah combs her still slightly damp hair and ties her an artful looking braid. 

When she is finished, she pushes Rey in front of a mirror. The dress is very tight from neck to hips and then falls loosely in straight lines onto the floor. What Rey couldn't see at first is that there are notches at the shoulders and her skin shows almost to the elbow. Luckily, she imagines that she has hardly any abrasions and sore spots in these areas.

"And what do you think?" asks Sairah hopefully.  
"I don't know exactly. There's so much material and I still feel kind of defenceless."  
Those words best described how she was feeling right now.  
"It'll be okay!" Sairah whispers to her in an encouraging way.   
"You look, if I may say so, beautiful.”  
Rey gives her a little smile and has to admit that she looks pretty good in that dress.

"But how am I going to walk in it?" Rey asks slightly desperate. "I step on the thing at the bottom every time I walk."  
"You just lift the dress up a little at the front, so you don't step on the hem all the time, that's the name of the thing."   
Rey has to giggle a little during Sairah's performance.

This isn't a formal dinner, it's just a normal dinner with her partner to plan the future of the galaxy... at least that's what she keeps telling herself.  
And you only see a few soldiers on the way to the hall anyway, so there's nothing to be ashamed of.

With an encouraging smile from Sairah in her back she pinches her cheek again, goes to the door and makes her way to the hall. Keep upright and proud! She keeps telling herself. Show no weakness. Good that it would be an adventure to sit opposite someone so impulsive and convince them of herself.  
One deep breath in and out, then she nods at the storm trooper at the door. The big door opens with a hiss and there he stands already, waiting for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bleibt gesund,  
> Eure Lori ♥


	10. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's date time! ...if it's a date... ^.-´

It is a huge hall in which normally many people would find a place at a big table to dine in a magnificent way in a noble round.  
But now there is only one table. A small table with a little more than one by one-meter size. In the middle of the table there is a beautiful crystal, which illuminates the table in a wonderful violet light. 

With careful steps and raised dress (as Sairah told her) Rey walks towards the table and towards Kylo. He is standing there in black pants, grey shirt and vest. Is the grey a sign? If so, it is very clever. 

"You like the way it seems to me," he says into the silence.  
"Yes, it reminds me of an old picture book I once found in a crashed wreck."   
He smiles at her slightly.   
"Come and sit down." 

Rey steps up and lets him pull the chair up for her. Then he sits down opposite her. Suddenly she has the feeling that this is more than just a casual dinner between two partners who want to discuss their strategy for the future.

A Twi'lek servant comes to the table, puts two glasses down and fills them with a red liquid.  
When she has left, Kylo reaches for his glass and holds it in her direction. She reacts a little late but also grabs her glass and touches it very lightly. 

He takes a sip out of it, but she looks at the contents more closely. On closer inspection it seems as if something shimmers in the liquid. Like billions of tiny luminous spots, like a small galaxy in a glass. The smell is fruity and temptingly sweet. 

"Naboo wine. A specialty of Naboo," he says to explain.  
She looks up.   
"Did you just say Naboo?"   
"Yes, why?" She smiles a little.   
"This storybook I was telling you about... it's about a planet called Naboo."  
Kylo is very interested in that information.   
"It was very old and I didn't learn much reading at the time, but the pictures... they always inspired me to beautiful dreams," she says with a slightly wistful smile on her lips. 

Then she sips a little bit of her wine.   
"Mmmhh! It tastes delicious!" she says enthusiastically.  
"My grandmother was from Naboo.”   
Rey looks closer. He's never talked about his family much.   
"What was she like... your grandmother?" his eyes darken a little when he asks.   
"She died giving birth to my mother and uncle. I heard she was very beautiful. A former ruler of Naboo.”   
Even though he never knew her, he seems to admire her. Rey will have another sip of her wine.

"You look very pretty," he says, smiling. A smile that is almost as mean as it is good. She almost chokes on her drink.  
After a small coughing attack, she answers with bright red cheeks: "Thank you... yes, that is what Sairah said. You look good too, by the way, the grey ..." she stutters embarrassed.

"You seem to get along really well with Sairah?!"   
"Um... yes, I must also admit that I tried to ask her about you..." she confesses.  
He raises his eyebrows and asks somewhat amused, "And what has she been telling you about me?"

A little shyly she looks aside   
"Well, I didn't really ask her about you at first, but about whether she and the other Twi'lek are here voluntarily... you can't imagine my surprise when she pledged you as her savior to heaven..." 

Now Kylo seems surprised.   
"I didn't know you had built a reception center for former slaves..." She takes another sip of her wine.  
"I didn't know the servants here felt that way." 

While the Twi'lek spreads the food on the table, he looks away in silence for a while. Rey thanks the servant when she is finished and wants to leave. She also seems to be surprised by her kindness just like Sairah was at the beginning.

He now looks in her direction again. With an interested expression he stares at her literally.  
"On Jakku I have met a Twi'lek before," she says with a shy smile.  
"Did you become friends with her as well?" he asks curiously.  
But this memory has a sad ending.   
"No..." she says and looks down at the plate.   
„... I was still almost a child when she came to us. ... She was not a very talented scavenger. Eventually, a band of robbers came to us and pitched their tents near the Niima outpost. The captain of the group bought the Twi'lek... for his own amusement and that of his gang... At night, i could hear their laughter... and her screams..." at the last word, a small tear rolled down her cheek, which she hastily wiped away.

"I am against slavery..." he said softly. "...and I intend to ban it completely under the Grey Alliance." She smiled at him as he spoke.  
She takes another sip of her wine and finds her glass already empty.  
Then they eat in silence for a while. The servant refills her glass again.

"A message will go out tomorrow morning at dawn to all known star systems announcing the formation of the Grey Alliance... with you and me at the head," he says after a bite. Tomorrow then... tomorrow the rebels would know she had chosen him. She wonder if Master Skywalker will know too. Or if he already knows?

While they eat the food, they talk about the things they want to change, the rules they're going to reintroduce. They plan to reinstate a system similar to the old Republic. And they also want to bring the lawless systems under control and outlaw slavery everywhere forever.

She noticed he's been eating a little more. Maybe he'll sleep a little better tonight.  
That's about what Kylo thinks of her. He was extremely worried when Sairah told him that his companion ate less and less in the last days and suffered from a severe lack of sleep.

After the meal they fall into a longer silence. When the plates are cleared, he looks into her eyes and smiles at her.  
When she still says nothing, he tries another tactic. 

"What are these dreams that keep you awake at night?" he asks unexpectedly.   
Rey almost chokes on her wine again.  
With reddened cheeks she stammers: "These are not so important dreams!"  
"If they are not so important? Then why are they keeping you awake?" he asks with a cheeky grin on his lips.

"Oh, nothing, it was just... ...the kiss." she almost whispers.  
"Which one?" Kylo slips it out and at the same moment he might scold himself for this question.  
She looks him straight in the eye...  
"The last one. I meant to ask you earlier..."  
Now he's getting nervous.   
"...which one of us had actually broken the kiss or the connection? Was it you, or did I flinch?

He looks at her for a while and feels his cheeks starting to get hot.  
"I broke the connection," he replies truthfully.  
"But why?" You can clearly hear the disappointment in her voice.  
"Because..." he chooses his words very carefully.   
"I don't want to hurt you."

The answer confuses her because she simply cannot explain how he could have hurt her.

After she says nothing, he continues: "If I hadn't interrupted that kiss, I would have gone too far..."  
"Ben! You never forced yourself on me," she says in a calm voice.  
"Yes, but it's getting harder every day."  
"What do you mean?" she asks ignorantly.  
"The longer I'm near you, the harder it is for me not to touch you."

Rey exhales slightly irritated. Then she takes her hand under the table and puts it on his. He looks at her hands first and then at her.   
"You are touching me?! So, what's the problem?"  
With eyebrows raised, he stares at her... it can really be... is she really that inexperienced...? 

One moment he thinks about it, then he sends her a picture from his dream, ... from one of the spicy dreams that keep him awake again and again... She blushes immediately and pulls her hand away again. He looks away embarrassed.

"I don't want to frighten you with this. But it's one of the things that keeps me awake most nights... ...at least last night."  
Nervous, she takes a big sip of her wine and empties her glass. 

"I'd like some more of that wine."   
He looks at her glass, at her face, and says, "You shouldn't have any more wine!" She looks at him with big eyes.   
"Trust me," he says forcefully.  
She decides not to ask any more.

"I should also tell you that General Hux will be arriving here in the next few days."   
"Who is that?"   
"He is a... he is in command of the entire forces of the soon to be former First Order. I'm not quite sure what to do with him yet.”  
So, on instinct, she says, "What is he doing here?"  
The question seems a little uncomfortable to him... ...which is a bull's-eye.  
"He says he wants to satisfy himself of your loyalty to the Grey Alliance."  
"Hm." Rey goes on.   
"And what kind of a person is this General Hux?"  
"Basically, he is nothing more than a rabid dog or an asshole... Pick a term, they both fit."   
She has to laugh.

He's relieved that she's loosened up a little.   
"Just watch out for him."   
"Sure thing." She says, leans forward and puts her hand back on his.   
Dumbfounded, he realizes that two glasses of wine have lowered her inhibitions considerably. She touches him again after he has just revealed this weakness of his. She must really be a little drunk already. 

"What do you intend to do after this?" Rey asks, not quite sure if the sun has already gone down.  
"I don't know. I'm open for suggestions. Until we can visit other planets, I'm gonna have to bombard you with what we have here."   
Rey smiles, wants to take a sip from her wine glass again and has to realize that it is already empty.  
 _Yeah! I really have to watch her drinking._ He thinks so.

She would think of a lot of things to do here. Should she ask? Should she leave it alone? But with that sweet wine in her head, all her answers would boil down to _Why not?_ for the next few hours anyway.

"I would be delighted if you would teach me how to swim." she blurts out, feeling her cheeks turn slightly red again.  
Kylo's eyes sparkle with interest.   
"It's supposed to be beautiful by the lake, especially in the evening, but we can wait until morning. Or until we are on another planet."  
"No, I want to do it here and now! ...use it as a chance to convince me of you."

Kylo puts on what she thinks is a cute crooked smile.  
"Besides, you might want to try growing a beard. I'm sure it'll look good on you."   
Rey smiles and runs her finger along the edge of her empty glass.  
Kylo rests his chin on a fist and has to amuse himself inside about the new courage of his counterpart soaked in wine. Should he really take advantage of her condition? Yes!

"I will remember the beard thing. Then get ready, I'll pick you up at your room door."  
He gets up and waves the servant girl to him. She nods before she leaves again. Rey gets up and tries not to step on the hem of her dress (as Sairah called it). She will have to wear something like this more often in the future.

"Come, I'll help you." the words sound strange coming from his mouth. Yet she accepts his offered arm. It almost feels as if the tension between them is just beginning to build. Eventually, it will reach its maximum. Together they walk along the corridors and he only let’s go of her arm when they stand in front of her door.

"See you soon." she says and disappears behind her door.  
Relieved, she sinks down the wall. Damn, this is really new. Such a feeling of tension between them and it's not even bad. She loves being by his side. Looking at his profile, with the specially shaped nose. On the chin you can see the slight shadows of a beard, so she can assume he shaves it regularly. Add to this the still sad eyes under the wavy hair, which has now got a little more shine.

It's good to see him come alive like this. On the table beside the bed lies her lightsaber. Luke's lightsaber. She always had it with her until now. But it's only gonna get in the way when she goes swimming. 

What do you wear? The young woman quickly takes off her dress and slips into her tunic and trousers. Swimming in underwear is the only option, and it will do. With a strange lump in her breast, Rey answers the door.

Already tomorrow they will start with the proclamation and negotiations. That also means that the resistance will know about it. It's bound to cause a riot. But in the end the people will choose peace and freedom. With a little more hope and a lighter chest, she opens the door and receives Kylo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over the next few days, the chapters may be somewhat irregular.   
> But if I skip a day, two chapters will be added the next day.
> 
> Until tomorrow, your Lori ♥


	11. The Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today it's swimming lessons and there's a lot of fluff... ... so very, very lot of fluff. ♥.♥  
> Around 1% angst but mostly fluff. Sry for that. ^^°
> 
> So much fluff... I think I'm gonna have to change the tags again...XD

With folded arms he stands in the doorway. He has merely thrown on his usual black coat.  
"Well then, let's go. It's still warm outside at this hour."

The surroundings are enchanted. The sun is setting behind the mountains. Normally she would be sitting in her room now, in front of the open French doors in her chair, enjoying the sunset behind the mountains. But now, here under the trees, everything seems much darker. The light seems a bit diffuse. Fortunately, she already knows the way to the lake very well, thanks to her terrible training.

"Here we are," the dark-haired man pushes a few branches aside and points to the small lake, which sparkles like a jewel even without sunlight. The stones covered with algae seem to fluoresce in the dark, which gives the water a magical shimmer. It is really as beautiful as he said. 

Speechless Rey takes off her tunic and pants and puts them on one of the bigger stones. She puts her shoes next to it.  
Carefully she takes a few steps inside. The water itself is quite cold, but the warm air dries them quickly again. With wet feet she walks backwards a few steps to the stone, right into Kylo's arms behind her. He holds her gently by the arms. Strong arms that no longer exert force on her.

"Come, I'll hold you tight." He too has put his coat, vest and shirt on the stone.  
He stands behind her, lets his hands slide down her arms and takes her hands in his. She gets goose bumps...  
She inevitably has to think back to when the force - connection was made and suddenly he stood in front of her dressed only in trousers.

"Just say when you want to turn back" he whispers into her ear. A shiver runs down her spine immediately, but not because of the cold water.  
"Y-yes, I will." pushes her out and lets herself be pushed further into the water. 

The stones under her feet feel slippery from the algae they are covered with. The sun must already have completely disappeared, because the only light around her comes from the water, which shines in an incredibly intense green.  
Meanwhile the water already reaches up to her belly, she has not lost contact with the ground yet. 

His hands are warm but not once has he let go of her.  
"Take a deep breath in and out and feel the water," he whispers back into her ear.  
"It makes me a little... It confuses me when you whisper in my ear like that."  
Kylo laughs and comes even closer.  
"Please, I mean it."  
Rey feels her cheeks burning and stares at the water. There is something soothing and magical about the green glow.

"I'm sorry, my princess. Lean your head on my shoulder and I will hold you. I promise." Slowly they glide deeper into the water and she feels the cold immediately on her back.

He still holds her tight and as soon as they are deep enough she puts the back of her head on his shoulder and lets herself be pulled even deeper into the water. If he wanted to, she would be dead already. Drowned in a magical green shimmering lake.

The water flows around her head and around her hair. Behind her is this bastard of a partner, who manages to make her heart race outrageously fast. His lips are closed and his eyes rest on her mouth.

Then he suddenly lets go of her hands. She turns around quickly and can still wrap her arms around his neck before he can slide further into the water and leave her behind.

Somewhat amused, he says, "You'll hardly learn to swim if you keep clutching onto me all the time."  
That son of a bitch! Then she devises a ruse. She lets go of him, oars away from him a bit and dives under.  
He is surprised, but after a while she doesn't show up, he feels a slight panic.  
He dives after her, finds her and pulls her back up.  
She has her hands on his shoulders and he holds her by the waist.  
She coughs up some water that she had swallowed.

"What was that?" he asks angrily... but then he notices that her cough gives way to laughter.  
"How can I learn to swim if you're clinging to me all the time?" she asks with a cheeky laugh.

He just looks at her in amazement. She has actually tricked him.  
He puts one arm around her waist and with his free hand he carefully pushes a wet streak from her face. His lips are slightly open and she nervously bites her lower lip.  
His skin feels hotter than the evening air that slowly fills with fireflies.

She doesn't have to press hard, he comes closer to her. His hair tickles her forehead and cheeks. His nose gently touches hers. He comes down to her a little further and she can feel his breath on her lips. The tension is so great that she would have loved to jump up and grab him.

Slowly he raises his head again and moves away from her. Immediately a strong feeling of frustration overcomes her. No, she doesn't want that...

Rey moves back towards him and gets solid ground under her feet again.  
She looks into his dark eyes and can see that there is only one wish hiding behind them... to get closer to her. Then why doesn't he do it?

"I..." he begins, but she has already reached him, puts one arm around his neck and with the other hand she gently touches his lips. His breath goes deeper and faster the closer she gets. She doesn't take her eyes off him until her lips finally touch. 

Warm and wet, a little rough but just as she had imagined. The kiss is long and soft. For a moment she thinks he won't return it, but then he puts his arms around her waist again and presses her firmly against him. For a moment they loosen and look into each other's eyes, breathing heavily, then he lowers his mouth back to hers and his kiss feels to her as if he wants to pour all his passion like a waterfall over her.

 _I want more!_ Screams her brain. More of his lips, more of that warm feeling that the kiss triggers in her stomach. His hair drips onto her face and yet it doesn't come off. He returns it again and again. A hand moves from her waist over her back to her neck where he presses her even closer. His other hand moves from her waist to her hips where his fingers gently stroke the fabric of her underwear. Rey shudders at the feeling of being so close to him. 

The hand that previously silenced his lips now lies flat on his chest, just where she can feel his wildly beating heart. Slowly she strokes his wet hair with her other hand and deepens the kiss a little more.

When they finally separate from each other, she still cries for more. The slight feeling of frustration in her is almost unbearable.  
His eyes don't look sad anymore, there is now a flaming passion in them.

"Look." he whispers and points behind her. Carefully she turns around and sees hundreds of little fireflies buzzing around the shore. For a while, she contemplates this beauty. He stands behind her, but touches her all the time. He caresses her arms and covers her shoulder and neck with gentle kisses.

When she turns around again, she sees the lights of the fireflies reflected in his eyes.  
"Thank you." he says and holds her tightly in his arms. And ... for whatever reason, but in Rey the feeling spreads that she has never felt less alone in her life.

As soon as they are back on shore, Kylo collects some dry branches and stacks them on top of each other.  
"What kind of swimming lesson was that?" she asks and smiles.  
"The one for beginners," he mocks back.

When the fire burns they sit down next to each other in front of it and he puts his coat around both of them.  
This is a different warmth than the one she felt from the kiss. His hand rests naturally on hers.

Something is broken between them... the ice of caution. The hope that he will master the light and darkness with her seems closer than ever before.  
"It's almost magical," she whispers, staring into the dancing flames.  
Above them shimmers one of the moons and bathes her in its silver light.  
"I hope this moment can be saved," he replies shortly afterwards.  
"Yes, that would be nice." With her legs tucked up, she sits next to Ben and feels that the hunger and passion from before have cooled off again, like a small flame.

"Why didn't you kiss me on the grass yesterday?" she asks abruptly.  
"Because I didn't know ... whether you wanted to. ... After all, after the forced kiss the day before you called me an idiot."  
"Um...! So you heard that?" she asks with her eyes closed.

"Well... I don't want you to manipulate me with your force, or push me aside like an object. ...do... please never do that again," she says and looks him forcefully in the eyes. He looks back and nods sincerely.

He throws another stick into the fire and they watch as it is consumed by the flames.  
"Let me know when you want to go back," he says and squeezes her hand tighter.  
"Preferably..." but she wouldn't say that, no... She's not like that.  
"Let's just stay here a little longer."

Kylo takes his hand off hers and puts his arm around her. She snuggles up by his side, closes her eyes and enjoys the moment. Before she nods she hears him whispering softly, "I wish I could have this moment forever."

Slightly confused and with a strange feeling she wakes up again. Strange just because she's not on the floor... or in a bed. She's in Kylo's arms and her head is on his shoulder. He carries her. 

When he notices her awakening, he stops.  
"You fell asleep by the lake. I'm taking you back to your room."  
He wraps her in his coat and puts her things on his other shoulder.  
"No!" she says a little too forcefully. He looks at her amused.  
"Rey, you're tired! We can go to the beach again tomorrow." is he treating her like a spoiled child right now? …

"I want to sleep with you!" ...he can have that.  
Her lips are pursed, she looks at him sadly.  
Let's see how far she can go.

Suddenly his look takes on a challenging quality.  
"All right," he says simply.  
Something's wrong, but she wants to see him trick her first.

So, he carries her back to his room.  
His accommodations are kept as simple as hers. The typical white walls and furniture. Only his bed is much bigger. With two blankets instead of one, and one of them is wrinkled. So that's how close she'll be to him all night long.

"Do you need any more sleep linen?" he asks carefully as he sets her down on the bed. But Rey just shakes her head. So, he covers her up with the blanket.

"Well, good night," he says to her, gives her a tender kiss on the forehead and leaves.

Rey sits up in shock. "Are you kidding me?!" he stops, but doesn't turn around to face her.  
"Rey! "This is not a good..."  
"Please let me decide what is a good idea and what isn't." She stops him.  
"The only thing I know right now is that I can't sleep unless you're with me, and I'm pretty sure you feel the same way!"

He's breathing noticeably harder. Then he goes to a chair, puts his vest and shirt on it and lies down in bed next to her. When he turns his back on her, she says, somewhat annoyed, "Ben! You're acting like a spoiled toddler right now!"  
"Oh, yeah?!" he yells and turns to her.  
"Until just now I wanted to say that about you."

Whatever he was thinking, he certainly wasn't expecting the following. She touches his face gently with her hand and says softly, "Please... ...Ben." And then she smiles... that smile from his vision. 

His heart beats so fiercely that he's afraid she might hear it at any moment. He lies down on his side with her and just looks at her. At that moment she appears to him as the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. And he knows exactly that he will do everything and give everything to never lose her again. 

Smiling, she gives him her hand. "Good night" she says and gives him a short kiss on his lips. Then she happily closes her eyes and lets him cover her again.  
Together they fall asleep and for the first time in a long while they have a quiet dreamless night, ...hand in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a nice day!
> 
> Stay well, your Lori ♥


	12. An hour to think about it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After that beautiful night, Kylo has some good news... or doesn't he?

With tired eyes, she stretches out her arm and reaches for the other side of the bed in an empty and cold sheet.  
He is probably out early again, but she can understand that. This morning the proclamation of the Grey Alliance is to be sent out.

Yesterday suddenly seems like a dream. As if it never happened. But did it?! Did she really have an impenetrable person open up to her?  
Slowly Rey gets up and strokes her tousled hair. Before she had gone to the lake with Kylo, she had hurriedly pulled the braces and clips out of her hair and left them open. 

She briefly goes into his bath, freshens up a bit, splashes some water on her face and briefly looks at her reflection. She looks... fresh... yes, that's the best word she can find. Her rosy cheeks and dark shadows under her eyes have disappeared. 

He too has a big window that reaches down to the floor. One of the doors is already open and the curtain is blowing in the wind. She puts on one of his shirts and stands in the frame of the window. With closed eyes she feels the light breeze gliding over her skin. 

Suddenly she feels fingers gently stroke her cheek.   
"Ben."   
He stands beside her and smiles. She loves his smile. Then he takes her hand, puts it on his shoulder, pulls her towards him at the waist and welcomes her with a long kiss.   
It tastes of coffee... and of Ben.

As they part again, she says with glowing cheeks, "You're in such a good mood."  
"It's just so overwhelming to have someone so beautiful standing there waiting for you."  
Rey laughs softly and presses himself against him even more.

"And besides, the first answers of each system were already there."  
A little surprised she replies: "So fast?" Whether the rebels have already answered too?  
"New answers arrive almost every minute. Most of them agree, but all of them... demand one thing."  
"What?" she asks curiously. 

Kylo shirked the answer a little, but then he finally came out with it: "They demand a marriage... we as a royal couple should found a dynasty and marry justly." that comes as a slap in the face to Rey.

She backs off.   
"What?" she asks in astonishment.   
"B-But!"   
Kylo is amazed. "That's a close shave? ...you know, that this whole time it's been about... ...right?"  
She looks at him questioningly. Yeah, that's what it's all been about... hasn't it?   
"I don't know..."  
"Rey! I asked you to be my queen! What do you think I meant by that?" Now he gets a little angry and she backs away even more.  
"If we don't agree, everything we've been planning won't work. Then it was all for nothing. Is that what you want?"  
"I know that too, but don't you think marriage is a bit hasty?" 

Now he suddenly becomes very calm.   
"Are you saying you don't want to marry me?"  
"I didn't say that... I just mean... No. ... I mean..." she desperately searches for the right words, but just can't find them.   
So why does it have to get so complicated. A marriage... so quickly. They... they've only just...

When Kylo misread her expression, he goes crazy. With a loud scream, he grabs a chair and hurls it against a wall.  
Rey winces for a moment and then says in an angry voice, "That doesn't make it any better."  
He comes up to her with big steps and grabs her by the neck with one hand. But he neither pushes her nor throws her away. He just stands there, bent over her, with his hand on her neck. And she keeps staring at the floor. 

Then she looks him in the eyes and sees a challenge. His look shows his insane rage. 

Suddenly, her gaze softens. She grabs his with one hand, pulls it from her neck and gives him a kiss in the palm of his hand.

"Ben! I care about you. For the first time in my life, I don't feel lonely with you. And I know that you feel the same way about me... ...but this is all just happening too fast. I need some time to think about this!"

He seems to have calmed down, as he gently strokes her cheek with his fingertips.   
"If I could, I would give you all the time you need to decide. ... but the potential allies are demanding a public announcement by tonight."

For a moment, she looks to the side.   
"Good, then give me... an hour to think about it..." he is indeed surprised by the short time to think it over.   
"But, um... no matter what I decide... you'll accept it!" he nods and lets her get dressed.   
"Meet me at the lake in one hour." And with these words she left his room.

For a long time, he just stands there... so close ... he is so close to getting everything he has dreamed of and yet so close to losing everything again.

Arriving in her room she has to realize that Sairah has put away everything she had left in her hurry yesterday. She knows that she spent the night with him, what she thinks about it ... but it does not matter now. 

She grabs her lightsaber and storms out of her room. She doesn't want to run into Sairah asking her about last night or worse... congratulates her on her good news. 

She runs to the place where the speeder was the day before yesterday. Luckily, they are still standing there. She jumps on one and dashes away. With the wind in her hair and the forest flying by she can switch off. 

Eventually she reaches a small clearing and has to stop. She can no longer see anything because a curtain of tears obscures her vision. She descends, goes to all four of them and starts to cry. But why is she crying. He was right after all, she knew from the very beginning, since he asked her to follow him, what the whole thing was leading to. 

Then why can't she just say yes?   
Because it suddenly seemed so unromantic?   
Because he didn't ask her?   
Because she's afraid?   
But of what?

She goes to a small tree stump, sits on the ground and leans her back against it. Then she wraps her arms around her legs and starts crying more violently than ever before.

If she doesn't agree, she would lose everything. Her friends in the Resistance, her friends here and... Ben. She would lose him. And the war would come back. What would happen to Ben then? Would he give himself over to the dark side again?

He's right. It would all have been for nothing...

And what's wrong with just saying yes? She would be with him. Forever. You could have a lot more nights like last night. He would show her so much, teach her so much. They could explore so many planets they've never seen before. She could bring peace to the universe. ….. But she would sacrifice her freedom. . .

When she makes a small noise, she looks up in horror. An animal has sat down on her speeder. A little blue bird. She wipes the tears from her face, gets up and walks slowly to her vehicle. He looks at her curiously as she stretches out her hand and gently strokes his back. Then he sings a few notes and flies away again.

She stands there a long time... ...and looks after him.

Eventually, her gaze wanders back to the speeder... and then into the forest... in the direction she came from.   
Quickly she climbs up again and steals back. She doesn't know why but she has the urgent feeling that she must not be late.

When she is back at the base after a short time she sees Sairah standing at the hangar and staring into the forest.   
"Sairah!" she calls to her. She reacts immediately and comes towards her with a worried expression.   
"Mistress Rey! I have been looking for you."  
"Where is Ben?"  
"Master Ren went into the forest some time ago. The officers are already looking for him. It is imperative that you tell him that..." 

"Thank you!" she interrupts the servant and is already running towards the forest. Without listening to what Sairah calls out. She must go to Ben now. She doesn't know exactly why but something is coming towards her and she can only overcome it if she is with him... She is sure of that!

When she sees the lake and also Ben in front of her she calls for him.   
"Ben!" and runs towards him. But he does not react to her. He just keeps turning in a different direction and staring into the woods. As if something is coming towards him and he can't see it clearly. 

When it reaches him, she can feel it, too. They look at each other for a moment, then they stand back to back and both draw their lightsabers, just like on Supremace when they were surrounded by Snoke's bodyguards. Because even now, they're surrounded. And suddenly she knows what Sairah wanted to call out after her ... that there are intruders near the base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a nice weekend.   
> Stay healthy! Your Lori ♥


	13. Friend ore Foe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Kylo have an unexpected encounter with old friends and for Rey the question arises who is their friend and who is their enemy?

They both stare in all directions always back to back, like the well-rehearsed team that they are. Careful, like animals expecting an attack. 

Then, uh... a sound. 

Rey can locate it quickly and raises her lightsaber ready for battle. Slowly, she sees a figure emerging from the forest... 

"Finn?!" she cries out in surprise.   
"What...?" but then she sees him holding a blaster and he turns it... at Ben.   
"No wait...!"  
"Put the lightsaber down!" it comes from another direction.   
There's another figure coming out of the woods behind her. One of the pilots of the rebellion. His name is Poe. At least, that's what Rey thinks.  
"Oh man! It's really her.”   
Another person steps forward, a young woman, with black hair, very fair skin and almond-shaped eyes. 

This is just too much. Rey retracts her lightsaber and stands between Ben and the others.  
"What are you doing here?" she asks angrily addressed to Finn. He is rattled for a moment and then replies dryly: "Well, saving you."   
Rey throws her head back, then looks at Finn again and says, ""What makes you think I need to be saved?"  
"Because he kidnapped you."  
"Again!" Is it coming from Poe's side. 

"I don't need to be saved!"  
"You don't?!" asks Finn.  
"No!” she yells.  
"How do we know you won't be forced to say this?"  
"Yeah, right, with some Jedi mind trick?!" it's coming back from Poe. 

Rey's starting to think she doesn't like Poe. She raises her hands to her mouth as if in prayer, takes a deep breath and then says: "Okay... when you tried to rescue me at Starkiller Base... how did that go down?"   
Finn prints a little, but then admits out loud: "You... had already freed yourself..."

"She what?" ask Poe now in horror.  
"Yes, she... was just walking around."  
"The girl has freed herself?" asks Poe, pointing at Rey with one hand. 

"She's so great!" they all look at the girl between them with irritation.  
"Rose!" Finn chides her. She mumbles a short "Sorry!" and puts her gun back on. 

"What I meant to say was...” Rey starts again.   
"I don't need to be freed, I'm here of my own free will... so you can put your guns down." 

Rose puts hers down first, Finn follows slowly, but Poe keeps his up, still pointing at Ben. Now Rey turns to him and sees that he still has his sword drawn. and that his back was to her. He stares in a whole different direction. He's staring at the other side of the lake.   
Rey walks to his side and looks him in the eye. He stares spellbound at something that is still coming towards her between the trees on the other side. His gaze disturbs her, there is so much rage in it... and... Fear? Rey now also looks in this direction and she almost can't believe it.

"Master Skywalker?!"   
Luke is standing on the other side of the lake, staring at them both. There's no telling what's going through his head... as if you could ever tell...   
How did he get here?   
Why is he here?   
Does he think Rey needs saving too...? 

During her deliberations, she thinks of Ben again. He's breathing heavy and deep. Yeah, he's angry. Rey grabs his arm. He calms down a little bit right now and looks at her. She looks him in the eyes and shakes her head.   
"No... Ben..." she says softly and calmly. He slowly lowers his lightsaber and eventually pulls it back again. 

Rey smiles nervously and then... 

>"Boohhhmmm!<

A loud bang fills the area. Rey and Ben turn around towards the base.   
"What was that?" Rey asks suspiciously but before anyone can say anything, a second bang is heard. 

Poe, who in the meantime has put his gun down, asks: "Tell me Finn, how many explosions should this hairy giant actually detonate?”  
"One!" says Finn on the run. Rey suddenly has a very bad feeling. And Ben seems to be no different. Almost at the same time they both start heading back to base. Finn, Rose and Poe can't even say a word when they've already disappeared.

The hangar of the base is in absolute chaos. One side of the huge gate has fallen down and apparently a fully fueled freighter has also blown up... ...making it hard to tell which one was planned. But what is immediately apparent is that there are injured and buried. Only everyone's still running around like headless chickens. 

Rey immediately runs up to one of the officers and gives him the order that the injured are to be recovered and taken to the military hospital and those who are buried under the rubble that are buried must be freed. He salutes briefly and then quickly goes to carry out the instructions. 

Ben is deeply impressed by their suddenly surging leadership skills. Then she suddenly lifts one arm backwards and Ben hears a clattering and then a familiar roar from behind him.   
Chewbacca is standing behind him at the side and is probably pissed because Rey knocked his gun out of his hand with which he wanted to shoot Ben. 

When he turns back to her, she is already running to some injured people and helps to get them away from here. In this moment of chaos, only one thought keeps coming to his mind... "She is just the one!!!"

The explosions are now almost half an hour ago and Ben also helps the injured and buried. Then suddenly he feels it... he slowly gets up and turns around... Rey stands about five meters away from him. And without a second thought he starts running...

Rey is busy right now with some others trying to pull a man out from under a piece of rubble. When that's done, the soldiers take him towards the hospital. 

She looks around and realizes that things are a lot less chaotic now. Then she sees Finn and the others, who are shocked by their attack, standing at the edge of the landing field and looking at everything closely. She sees Chewbacca and BB8 and a little bit away from her stands Sairah wiping the sweat from the forehead of one of the soldiers who has taken off his helmet with a cloth. Rey has to smile, it must be her lover she once told her about. 

Then Sairah looks in her direction. Rey smiles at her but Sairah's face takes on a panicky expression and she starts screaming. The next moment she feels a blow from behind and flies a few meters forward... and there is a loud roar. 

When Rey stands up, Sairah is already at her side and wants to help her up... but then she feels it... behind her a big part of the hangar collapses and she is pushed to the side... but... 

"BEN!!!" 

He pushed her out of the way and got hit by the debris himself. She runs back to the spot and tries desperately to lift the heavy debris... In the next moment the force comes to her mind. Some of the other soldiers are already running towards the pile to free their leader. She screams at them to go back and they do as they are ordered. Rey takes a step back and concentrates. She sees the debris shaking slightly... and then she remembers the thing with the big stone and what happened to the tree afterwards. She almost lost her concentration again but then she hears the voice of her old master behind her. 

"You mustn't let your fear of failure get the better of you...! Concentrate on what you want to achieve."   
She takes another deep breath in and out, closes her eyes and feels the power flowing through her. 

As soon as she opens her eyes again, she sees the debris hovering above her heads and Ben lying on the ground. The soldiers immediately pull him forward and put him on a stretcher. Rey slowly lets the debris fall to the ground again and runs to Ben.   
He has a bleeding spot on his head and is covered with dust. But she can feel that nothing bigger is missing. She nods and gives the soldiers the signal to take him to his chambers and tend to his wounds. 

Then she stands up, turns around and looks at her friends who have caused this chaos.   
Before she can say anything, Sairah storms into her arms and starts to cry. "I...>sniff<... was so scared... >sniffed<... that something... "  
"It's all right Sairah! " says Rey in a firm voice.   
She strokes the young Twi'lek encouragingly over her back and then looks at her rebel friends. She looks at them one after the other only annoyed. 

Then Sairah demands her attention again. She points up to the sky. With a look up, Rey realizes that her problems have only just begun.

"Whose ship is Sairah?" she asks calmly and slowly.  
"This is... the Stardestroyer of General Hux."

"Hux!" Rey mumbles softly. Then she looks back at the group in front of her. Sairah is still standing at her side, clutching her arm.  
Rey thinks for a moment... then raises her hand slightly up. All the weapons that the rebels were wearing or holding in their hands a moment ago land on the ground in front of Rey.

"Arrest them!" she says in a serious tone.   
"And bring them to the throne room!" the soldiers nod and do as they're told.

Now the battle would begin... and she knows exactly... who the enemy is...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nice Weekend!  
> Your Lori ♥


	14. Hux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey has to face Hux and finally make a decision...

Chapter 14 Hux  
  
Rey sits on the sofa in Ben's quarters and stares at the floor. Sairah sits next to her and stares at her interlocked fingers again.  
  
Then the paramedics come out of his bedroom with the medi-droids. Rey talks to them briefly and doesn't learn more than she already knows without them. She waits until the men have left the room, then she turns to Sairah and says: "Go now please...!"  
Sairah nods and is about to leave the room as: "Wait, please inform me as soon as General Hux has landed... and one more thing..."  
  
  
  
Ben is lying in his bed with his shirt off. The wound on his head has been bandaged and minor injuries on his upper body have been treated with an ointment similar to the one Sairah used on Rey yesterday.  
  
Hard to believe, was this only yesterday?  
For Rey, her stay on this planet seems like half an eternity... not five days.  
  
She sits next to Ben on the edge of the bed and looks at him, then touches his shoulder... moves her hand slowly down his arm until she puts his hand in hers.  
Then she feels that pressure in her eyes again... but she can't collapse just yet... she has to wait... the fight isn't over yet...  
  
  
For a while she just sits there looking at him.  
Then she hears the hissing sound of the door opening again. Sairah stands behind her and says in a low voice: "General Hux is here now and... and he's waiting for you in the throne room."  
"Yes, I know."  
Rey gets up and leaves the room with her maid.  
  
On the way to the throne room she asks, "Did you get everything done?"  
"Yes, everything worked just as you said it would."  
  
_Good!_ Thinks Rey. If she doesn't expose herself, it can work.  
  
When the door to the throne room opens she can see six figures on the floor in front of the big throne. She walks slowly towards them and holds her hands behind her back.  
Sairah stops next to the door in a corner.  
  
Rey walks towards the throne with an expressionless face. There he stands. A tall, stiffly standing man with red hair and a base grin on his face. Rey can't stand him right away.  
  
A little further behind the throne, an officer in blue uniform nods briefly in Rey's direction.  
She stops in front of the steps to the throne and looks straight ahead with an expressionless expression.  
  
"So that's her... the dirty scavenger - whore of Kylo Ren!" he says with a smug undertone.  
Rey shows no emotion.  
"It's a real shame! That Ren couldn't stop rebels from infiltrating his base and destroying it for such a... embarrassing chaos." a slight giggle follows his words.  
"It's a great stroke of luck that me and my troops can be on the spot and fix this. And since Kylo Ren is not even able to control such a tiny base, I will take the lead from now on. His plan to form a _Grey Alliance_ was doomed to failure from the start. Especially when he picks some filthy rebel whore to be his... as his mate. Absolute bullshit! We will regain control of the stubborn systems with a firm hand and finally defeat the rebel plague... We already know your beloved General Organa is on her way here. When she arrives... ahh ahh... we won't let that happen. Her ship will be shot down on first sight and then, any thought of rebellion will be wiped out once and for all! And you..." now it's going straight to Rey.  
"...you will be publicly executed! As a cautionary tale to all others. And the former slaves hiding somewhere on this planet will be sold off..."  
  
With a bored eye roll Rey attracts his attention.  
"You think this is funny, you little..."  
"Boring!" Rey interrupts him.  
"What?"  
"I said boring! I rolled my eyes because you bore me. If I thought it was funny, I would have laughed, but... I rolled my eyes."  
  
The General is speechless.  
"Are you finished then...? Good!" says Rey, raises one arm and lets the General float in the air. He wants to protest but Rey closes his mouth.  
  
"Then I can now tell you what is really going to happen!" she says and walks towards the throne.  
It is carved in grey stone. With straight broad armrests and a relatively high back. In principle, it looks like a concrete armchair.  
She stops in front of him for a moment and considers her next step. Then she sits down on one of the armrests, supports herself on the side of the backrest and looks at the Hux floating in the air.  
  
"Untie the rebels," she says after a brief silence.  
With a click the handcuffs fall from them.  
"General Hux! You stand accused of defying the Grey Alliance and betraying them. You are also accused of bringing rebels here under false pretenses and endangering the lives and health of hundreds of soldiers and servants!  
  
A brief silence.  
  
"Do you have anything to say in your defence?" she asks with raised eyebrows.  
Only muffled sounds can be heard from Hux, as his mouth is still held by Rey.  
She smiles a little and lets the rigidity leave his mouth.  
  
"There is no Grey Alliance to which I could submit... this fantasy of Ren's is just a half-baked plan to throw the universe into chaos."  
"What makes you think there is no Grey Alliance?"  
  
For a moment he has to hold on to himself, because by now he's not just floating in the air, but spinning on his own axis like a celestial body. Rey watches this amused.  
  
"Not a single star system will join such a ridiculous scheme..."  
Rey silences him again and waves the officer who was standing behind her the whole time and watches the spectacle with Hux amused.  
He hands her a holo-pad.  
As soon as she activates it, a holographic list appears with names of systems that have already committed to the Grey Alliance.  
  
"As you can see... it is no longer a ridiculous scheme! What can you add to the other accusations?"  
Again, he has to stop short because he's spinning a little faster now.  
"Can you please stop that?" he pushes forward at some point.  
  
Rey makes him turn a little slower again, and she stops herself from laughing.  
"I have no idea how the rebels got into the base."   
"No one said you brought them here... they have a fine pilot in their midst and they arrived here with the Millennium Falcon for sure! I, uh... just wondering... how did they know we were here? Radio communication from here and to us is encrypted with absolute certainty, and besides, this little planet is not on any star map... You don't have to answer, I already know you gave them the coordinates."  
  
Slowly she gets up and walks towards him, while he slowly turns back into the right position and lands kneeling in front of her.  
In front of him she also gets down on her knees and says softly into his ear: "I can feel your envy! Your envy of Ren's power..., of the power you will never have... ...and can never understand."  
  
Her words almost sound whispered, but they send a shiver down the General's spine.  
"You're just a small, insignificant man who wants to enslave everyone around him... ...and on top of that, you're a fool!"  
The last words seem to annoy him more than anything else...  
  
"You don't have a clue who you have infiltrated here."  
Hux looks closely at the others standing next to him.  
"A Wookiee, a Droid, a dirty traitor, a woman, a pilot and an old man?"  
  
Rey gets up, walks back to the throne and says, "A Wookiee?! Yes, but also a fighter who fought on the side of the Jedi in the Clone Wars. A droid... who managed to hide the missing map part that leads to Luke Skywalker from the First Order and bring him to the resistance. A former stormtrooper who was able to resist your conditioning and right wrongs. Probably the rebels' best pilot..."  
"Not probably... I am the best!" Poe interrupts them...  
Rey turns to him and looks at him with a raised eyebrow.  
"Do I want... just checking!" he says with his hands raised in surrender and takes another step back.  
  
Rey now takes a closer look at Rose. She stares back and seems to get nervous.  
"And the woman who figured out how to take out the homing device you used to track the rebels in hyperspace."  
"How does she know that?" Rose asks Finn softly. He just shakes his head and tells her to concentrate on Rey again.  
She has to smile a bit and decides that she likes Rose.  
  
"And an old man?! Hardly!... that's... Luke Skywalker!"  
In panic, the General looks at Luke. Rey can watch him get paler and paler. He realizes... he has no chance against the full Power of the Jedi.  
  
"Ben once told me that you could be called a rabid mutt or just an asshole..." she says as she sits back down on the armrest of the throne.  
"I think I'll just stay with the asshole. General Hux! You are hereby stripped of all your titles and commands. Take him to a holding cell!"  
  
One of the assault troopers approaches, grabs the general. ...I mean the former general on the arm, of course, and want to push him to the door..  
"You'll never make it! The systems will never surrender to a former Sith Warrior and a runaway scavenger!"  
"But a king... and his queen..."  
All eyes are back on Rey.  
  
"The potential allies have only one condition. That Kylo Ren and I marry fairly and establish a dynasty."  
She must do whatever it takes to keep looking Hux in the eye unimpressed.  
"All crimes of the former First Order will be dealt with. There will never be parents again to complain that their child has been stolen to become a soulless soldier! They will all get their lives back! Never again will you have to hear the desperate cries of slaves! The systems are tired of war! They will all fight for peace... for peace and freedom! Your era... ...is over!" and with these words, former General Hux is taken away.  


Once the big door behind him is closed, Rey can finally take a deep breath and lower her head. Sairah slowly comes towards them with a wide grin.  
"You were... fantastic!"  
Rey gets up again with hanging arms. Sairah still looks at her with bright eyes.  
  
"I'm so glad. When you left with the speeder this morning, I was afraid you would have refused. But now everything can be fine. You will be an outstanding queen. And together with Master Ren..."  
"Sairah stop!" the more Sairah spoke, the more panicked Rey's gaze became and then she just had to stop her faithful servant.  
  
"I-I... have not... agreed to this."  
Sairah stares at her stunned with her mouth open.  
"But... if you do not become his Queen, then all will fail! Then all that will happen that this Gene..."  
"I know that too." Rey yells at her.  
"Don't you think Ben didn't tell me all that this morning?! It's... it's just..."  
"They'll enslave us again and the soldiers, none of them will ever know who their families were, the people from the village... all will go back to war and..."  
"Sairah!!!"  
Rey looks at her angrily now.  
"I know all that! And I'll never let it get that far... but it's just not the point! It's..."  
  
Ever since that morning when Ben told her the _good news_ , she's been trying desperately to find the words to explain her conflict... but she just can't. Again, she can't find a reason not to accept his proposal and she turns away from everyone. She puts one hand in her side and covers her eyes with the other.  
  
"Do you really want to marry this guy Rey?" it comes from Finn.  
"Man! Dude, this is not helping right now!" Poe shuts him up.  
A longer silence breaks, interrupted only by the short beep of BB8.  
  
"Do you love Master Re... I mean... ...do you love Ben Solo?" it suddenly comes from Sairah.  
Rey turns stunned and stares at her with open mouth and tears streaming down her eyes.  
  
Clear your throat.  
  
Everyone looks at the soldier standing in the doorway, looking for attention.  
"The Supreme Leader has woken up."  
Rey wants to move immediately, then she clicks and suddenly stops.  
For a moment, she looks into the void... a moment when she just sees everything so clearly...  
  
Then she looks at Sairah, who is still looking at her with expectant eyes.  
  
"Yes, I do!" she finally replies and runs with a stunned smile to the man she has come to love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have nice weather. Enjoy the day.
> 
> Your Lori ❤


	15. The public announcement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sairah prepares Rey for the announcement and Finn and Poe have their fun...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the beginning of this chapter I would like to mention that this is my favourite chapter. 
> 
> I had a lot of fun to write it in German and was allowed to find out that it sounds even better in English... XD
> 
> Have Fun!

  
Ben sits upright in his bed and looks with an inscrutable expression at the woman who has just stormed into his room completely out of breath.   
  
Rey looks at him and feels the tears rise to her eyes.  
"Get out!" she orders the surrounding paramedics and an officer in blue uniform.  
  
When everyone has left the room, she slowly walks towards his bed and sits on the edge of the bed next to him. She stares angrily at the floor. Then he raises her chin with his hand and forces her to look at him.   
"They told me what you did. You're really..."   
  
>BATSCH!< does it when she slaps him in the face.  
  
"Do that... ever again!"  
Ben holds the part where her hand hits his face and looks at her with his mouth open.  
"That hurt!"  
Before she can slap him again, he grabs her hand.  
"You shall never do that again I said." brings her out in tears.   
"I want to be your wife... and not your widow!"   
  
For a moment he just stares at her with big eyes. He just can't believe what she just said.  
"So promise me... that you'll do something like that..." but she can't go on.   
With his free hand he grabs the back of her head and with a kiss he forces her to shut up.  
  
Her lips are soft, warm and salty from her tears. As they loosen, he starts to smile uncontrollably.  
  
"So you say yes?!" he asks her and waits for her answer.  
"Yes, I ..." but this time she can't talk her way out of it either, because he silences her again.   
During this kiss he pulls her onto the bed and bends over her. She is now buried under him and surrenders to his kisses.   
  
But at some point she makes him let go of her and pushes him down from her. When she can sit up again, she gives him a good pat on the back of the head.   
"Ouch!" he protests.  
"Put some clothes on! We still have to get this announcement over with," and with these words she stands up, leaves the room and leaves behind a grinning Ben, grinning from ear to ear.  


Outside, Sairah and the rebels are running towards her.  
"Sairah! Make sure he gets dressed!"   
The woman bows briefly and then runs into Ben's quarters.  
  
"And you...!" she says and looks angrily at the others.   
"Come with me!"  
  
  
Having arrived in her own room, she asks the others to sit down.  
There they are... Finn, Rose and Poe are sitting on the sofa, Chewy has taken a seat on a stool and Luke is leaning against a wall on the other side of the room.  
  
"What on earth were you thinking?" she starts.  
"I can't imagine Leia would have agreed to such an action..."  
  
"As a matter of fact..." Poe wants to begin...   
"Shut up!" she quickly interrupts him again.  
  
"Do you have any idea how close you came to a speeding intergalactic war?"  
  
"We were about to..." Finn wants to start...   
"Shut up, I said!" she interrupts him, too.  
  
"Not to mention... how did you get here?"   
This time Chewy yells something. At the end of his speech, she stares at Poe angrily.  
"I tell you, if there's a scratch on that falcon...  
"Now listen, we are extra..." but he cannot finish again because behind Rey the door opens and Sairah enters.   
  
Rey is confused for a moment because of her appearance but then sees what she is holding in her hand.  
"What are you going to do with that thing?" she asks suspiciously and points to the suitcase full of clips and braces for her hair.  
"Master Ben instructed me to tell you that you must wear a dress for the transmission."  
"You're kidding?!" Rey says dryly. Sairah just smiles.  
"You can tell him that..."  
"He said you would disagree. And told me to tell you that wearing a dress is more often coming up to a queen."  
  
Rey just looks at her with narrowed eyes.  
"That son of a bitch!" she mumbles as the maid walks past her.  
"Cheer up! You can even choose the color!" she says (supposedly) encouragingly.  
"Oh how nice!" jokes Rey irritably.  
"Well? What colour should the dress be?" asks Sairah with a cheerful face.  
"Because of mine... A grey one, then."   
  
Sairah approaches Rey with slightly pursed lips and grabs her upper arms.   
"Rey! As Queen of the Grey Alliance, you'll wear so much grey for the rest of your life, it'll come out your ears one day."   
The addressed woman dramatically rolls her eyes and replies in an annoyed tone: "Well, fine! "All right, purple."  
"Purple it is," says the Twi'lek with pleasure.  
  
And with these words she goes into Rey's bedroom and rummages through her closet.   
Meanwhile Finn has gotten up and approaches Rey with a grin, seeks eye contact and says: "You in a dress?!"   
Then he starts to laugh. Rey slaps him on the back of the head and just as Finn avoids another one, she shouts from the bedroom: "I have one! I've got one! Oh, yeah! That's perfect!"   
  
Before Rey can stop it Finn runs to the bedroom door and looks at Sairah's find.   
"Ohh... Yeah, no! She won't want that!" he says amusedly and goes back to the sofa.   
Rey enters the bedroom suspiciously and looks at the dress that Sairah seems to be so enthusiastic about.   
  
It is a floor-length dress, not very tight. Shoulderless but she could live with that.  
"For once... Yes, no, he's right, I'm not wearing that!" she changes her mind as Sairah turns the garment over.  
"No shit! Like you said, for once."  
  
She puts the dress on the bed and comes back to the living room.  
"And young Miss can help me stuff her into that dress!" she says to Rose.  
"My name is Rose," she says, gets up and helps her push Rey into the bedroom.   
"Pleased to meet Mistress Rose."  
The men, especially Finn, can hardly contain themselves before giggling.  
  
"Ouch!" it comes out of the room every now and then...   
"That hurts!" or "It must be so!"  
"If you weren't such a pussy, it wouldn't be so difficult."  
  
Again and again the two men look at each other and have to stop laughing so hard.  
  
Eventually, Rose comes out of the room. She looks as if she just helped one of her greatest heroines into a dress. (where helping is a relative consideration)  
  
"Sairah, what are you doing with those brackets?" you can hear a very upset rey asking.  
"I will naturally pull up your hair!" she answers with a slightly amused tone.  
"No way! They stay right where they are!" replies Rey irritated.  
"Now come on! Just a few!"  
  
Finn and Poe can't hold back their laughter now and only get back into their heads when Rose silences them with a little telling off.  
  
When Sairah comes out with Rey one day, her back is only against the wall.   
"You look fantastic." Sairah flatters.   
"She's right!" agrees with Rose.  
  
Rey just doesn't dare look up until Finn says, "Turn around. Let's see the whole dress." And she gives him a very angry look.  
  
"I think you look lovely too." it comes from the doorway where General Organa is standing.  
"Leia!" cries out to everyone.  
  
The person addressed comes up to Rey and takes her firmly in her arms. Looking at her back she slips a "Oh my goodness!" out. Rey turns bright red.  
  
"What you need to know... is that there will be many occasions in the future when you will have to wear a dress. And believe me..." she whispers in her ear   
"It always bothered me too."  
Rey must smile.  
  
"Master Ben is waiting for you in the conference room." says Sairah and points to the door.   
Rey who is totally cramped in the fabric of her dress nods briefly with her head down and wants to leave.   
But Leia stops her and shows her how she should hold her hands better and straightens her head. Rey is as nervous as never before.   
Leia offers to bring her.   
  
Then she wants to leave but Sairah says: "Wait!" and shows her again that she should hold the dress in front so that she doesn't step on the hem. With an eye roll she reaches into her dress and leaves the room with her head held high. When Finn and Poe see the backless part of the dress they whistle in the choir, which immediately punishes Rey with two pillows flying into their faces.  
  
  
  
Ben stands in the conference room and watches the technicians as they try to connect to all the receiving systems. Then she enters, followed by... his mother.  
He had already anticipated her arrival.   
  
He just stares at her. He hadn't seen her for so long. His mother... But then he was distracted by the sight of his queen. She wears a beautiful purple dress and looks like the queen she is now. A smile steals onto his face and she smiles back.   
But something is wrong, she keeps looking to the side and looks away embarrassed by the technicians in the room.   
  
The technicians, however, only look at her with their mouths open. Until Ben reminds ther of ther work with a glance. Immediately they look at their control panels again.  
  
But Rey still looks slightly pinched to the floor.   
When she stands next to him and he can see her very free back, he has to refrain from laughing and disguises it as a small cough.  
Instead she looks at him angrily.   
He likes her angry look.   
  
"Sairah?" he asks only briefly.  
"Shut your mouth!" she whispers to him and turns forward with her head raised.   
  
He should definitely remember to give this Twi'lek one or two medals.  
Ben has to wipe away his grin and is already looking forward to later when he has his girl all to himself.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a nice day and stay healthy!
> 
> Your Lori ❤


	16. ... be my Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben can hardly wait to have his queen to himself and Finn clearly shows that he is a jealous idiot.

Chapter 16 ...be my queen  
  
The transmission was a complete success. All the tension that had built up in her during the last hour suddenly fell away from her.  
  
Leia had been sitting at the other end of the table the whole time, watching both of them, especially her son. Again and again, when Rey took a look at her, she could see that the one or other tear was stealing over her cheek.  
  
As all the technicians and soldiers left the room, Ben took her hand, led it to his mouth and gave her knuckles a light kiss.  
Rey smiles at him and whispers into his ear that he should talk to her. Then she leaves the room after giving Leia an encouraging look.  
  
For a while she stares back at the closed door. He'll finally be able to talk to her... maybe even beg her forgiveness.  
  
Quickly she walks back to her room.   
When she arrives at the door, she already hears laughter from the room. She stays there for a while, thinking.  
  
When a storm trooper passes her and greets her with a bow, she stops him.  
"Please tell Sairah to prepare quarters for our guests... the former rebels!"   
The soldier nods her order and walks on.  
  
Today she can't go to them anymore. She's just exhausted from the day. The sun has already gone down and she is just hungry and tired... not knowing which need is stronger.  
And so she goes...  
  
  
  
With his mother by his side, he walks down the hallways towards the shelters.  
They talked long and hard. He missed her so much.   
They still have a long way to go but... but it's a start.   
  
Now all he wants is his Queen with him. He wonders if he can get her away from her friends. After all, none of them can stand him.   
And his Uncle Luke... How will he face him?   
When he saw him at the lake, coming out of the woods like a mist, he was filled with a rage... until she pulled him away from it, in two simple words.   
The power and effect she has on him is always terrifying.   
All his rage is suddenly... blown away.  
  
  
Behind the door you can already hear laughter.   
The picture that emerges is priceless. Sairah and Chewbacca are sitting at the table opposite each other playing a board game (apparently Sairah got it). On both sides, two people are standing behind them, cheering each other on or giving advice on how best to beat the other person.   
The thing is... normal... Ben thinks. But there is nothing to see of Rey.   
  
As soon as the others take notice of them, Sairah jumps up immediately and bows to Ben. The faces of the others rather show rejection in his direction. Then he sees his former master... his look he cannot interpret. As if he was still... reading him. But that's not what he wants now.   
  
Ben averts his gaze and looks at the former assault trooper,  
who seems to like him the least. Apparently, Rey plays a major part in this. Ben unconsciously raises an eyebrow, which only incites Finn even more.   
  
"Ben stop it!" it comes from his mother. He looks at her for a second. She sees right through him.   
He suggests a little smile and then looks at Finn again, this time with a very neutral expression.  
  
"Where is Rey?" he asks briefly.   
Sairah is the one who answers.  
"We thought she was with you."   
Ben looks behind him and closes his eyes... he can feel her... he knows where she is and a smile comes up on his lips.  
  
"Listen Ren... I mean Ben!" Finn speaks this time.   
He looks at him with an alert look.  
"If you hurt her or make her unhappy... I'm gonna come and fuck you up!"   
Everybody looks at him in amazement.  
  
Did he really just say that? _He's clearly in love with Rey._ Is that how he thinks to himself.

"Don't worry," Sairah says.  
"I will take good care of Misstress Rey."  
This Twi'lek keeps surprising Ben. There should be more than one medal.  
  
"Thank you, Sairah!" says Ben in a serious voice.  
Then he looks again at his uncle, who now stares at him even more intensely.  
  
"This doesn't have to be now!" it comes again from his mother. Only this time it's not directed at him, but at Luke.  
Then she turns back to her son and says in a loving voice, "Go to her!"  
Yes... he missed her so much. She sees and knows everything! 

With his eyes closed, he kisses her hair and tries to leave the room.   
But then he turns again and says: "Oh yes, Sairah!" she reacts immediately.   
"Yes Master Ben?"   
Since when does she call him Ben? Anyway.   
  
"The dress... did you choose it or...?"   
She looks at him for a while and searches her words carefully...   
  
"Mistress Rey has chosen the color..."  
Ben raises an eyebrow, two things shoot him in the head.   
First, that the choice of colour plays a role for Rey and he also knows why and second... that he likes Sairah very much.   
  
He bows slightly to her, thanks sincerely and leaves. When he leaves the room he can still hear a small excited giggle from her.  
  
  
  
Completely dazed Rey wakes up from an intense dream.   
He was... tingly.   
Yes... that's the best way she can describe what she dreamt. Ben was in the dream and she was wearing that cursed dress (just like now)... and he was...  
  
There he is!   
  
He's sitting on a chair by the bed, watching her sleep. When she sits up, he moves a little closer. She can't shake off the images from the dream yet and is very happy that it is so dark in the room (and he can't see her red cheeks).   
  
She stretches a little. After she had arrived here, she had eaten some of the fruit that had been placed in front of his sofa and then lay down totally exhausted to rest a little. This must have turned into an extended nap.   
Now she sits on the edge of the bed... opposite him.  
  
Embarrassed she looks away again but then he grabs her hair and pulls out the clips and braces.  
  
"What are you doing there?" she asks amused.   
"I just want to open your hair," he says as a matter of course.   
She lets him go ahead. He carefully pulls out one clasp after the other and places them all neatly on the small night cabinet. When he has finished, he grabs her hair with his hand and pulls her head towards him.  
  
"What I wanted to tell you... ...before you made me so... ...rudely... interrupted me..." he meant her slap.  
"I am very proud of you!"   
She has to smile, then he kisses her.   
But she interrupts the kiss after a short time and gets up.   
He is not surprised.   
  
She goes to the window, pushes the curtain aside and looks into the dark forest. She is not surprised when he suddenly stands behind her, pushes her hair to one side and covers her shoulder with light kisses. She closes her eyes and gives a barely audible sigh.   
  
Gently he moves his hands up her arms until he reaches her shoulders and the neck of her dress. He strokes her neck and gently kisses the area below her ear. She feels her breath go faster and faster. As he tries to undo the buttons on her neck, she suddenly realizes that it was not just a tingling dream.   
  
The last head is opened, but he does not let go of the neck. He turns her around and looks into her eyes. Even in this darkness he can see the glow in them. He feels what she feels and vice versa.   
Then he lets go.  
  
The dress falls down as if by magic and collects on the floor in a puddle of light fabric.   
And she stands naked in front of him. No Slip.   
He looks at her nakedness for a moment and then looks her straight in the eyes again.   
"You're perfect!" he whispers.  
  
Her slight trembling betrays her nervousness.   
He walks back towards the bed, takes off his coat and shirt. Without losing eye contact with her.   
After he has also taken off his pants and underpants, he looks at her again. She still looks him in the eyes.   
  
Then he stretches out his hand to her and with a calm voice he says: "Come to me... be my queen!"   
She looks first at his hand and then back at his face. She is not quite sure, but does she see a slight blush on his cheeks? Then she gives him her hand and lets herself be drawn to him. He puts her hand around his neck, as he did in the morning, and pulls her closer to him with his other hand at her waist. She also puts her other arm around his neck to get closer to him and to reach his lips.   
  
The kiss is different than the other kisses before. It is so full of passion and indecent promises and the hardness pressing against her belly is undeniable. Without separating their lips, they turn and he pushes them backwards towards the bed.   
When she feels the edge of the bed in the back of her knees, he holds her firmly against him, supports herself with his knee and one arm and carefully lays her on her back. Now he lies on her and releases his lips from hers.   
Both her breaths go quickly and in jerks.   
  
"Rey...!" he swallows... he hesitates... and then...   
"Yes, I know." she replies to his unspoken confession and smiles happily at him.  
  
  
  
Shortly before sunrise, the two of them are lying in bed together, tucked in. The blanket covered only up to their waist they look at each other smiling. Ben is determined to memorize every little detail of their face and bodie. Her fine nose, the gently curved eyebrows, the sweet mouth that looks so cute when she stares at him angrily, the small delicate hands... that look so fragile in his.   
He wants to remember everything and he has decided to find something new about her every day, which will enchant him.  
  
Carefully she moves her hand along the line of his scar, which she had inflicted on him at that time. Whether it was all preordained like this? Was there a power in the universe that connected their paths from the beginning? Is there such a thing as providence at all?   
  
Rey doesn't care. She is here... with him. She loves him... and they will go this way... together.  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your kind comments and kudos.  
>    
> Until tomorw, your Lori ❤  
>    
> PS. I left some scenes in the dark on purpose. What he talked about with his mother, everyone can interpret for themselves.  
> And the gap at the end... I leave that to your imaginatio... for now.  
> 


	17. The new crew of the Falcon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 'embarrassing' morning after...

  
When Rey wakes up, Ben is still sleeping. He looks so peaceful. Like a happy little boy. (In fact, he's actually a happy little boy right now.)  
  
For Rey, last night was indescribably beautiful. They loved each other, rested for a while, just looking at each other, then they loved each other again. The whole thing was repeated over and over again. He was gentle and demanding. He hadn't been able to say that he loved her... . . .but he showed it with every gentle touch, every kiss. . .   
  
She decides not to wake him. As quietly as possible she sneaks out of the room with her dress (the cursed dress) and his coat in her arms. In his bathroom she freshens up and puts the cursed dress back on.   
Looking in the mirror, she can hardly recognize herself. Her hair is dishevelled, her lips look a little sore and on her shoulder she has an almost bruise. She touches the spot and thinks back to last night when Ben kissed her there and... and it felt like he bit her real easy. Remembering that, she feels her cheeks getting hot again, and a tingling under her stomach.  
  
She puts on the coat to walk through the hallways a little more protected. In her room she would be able to put on something sensible again.  
And she's lucky. Most of the soldiers are still busy cleaning up on the big hangar deck.   
  
Once in her room, she immediately closes the door, leans her forehead against it and breathes deeply.  
A clear throat startles her. Finn, Poe, Rose and Sairah are sitting there, looking at her with big eyes.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"Actually, we wanted to ask where you were all night." says Finn.  
"No, we weren't going to ask that!" replies Rose and looks at him angrily.  
"Right, we wanted to ask you what you were doing all night." says Poe.  
"That's definitely not what we wanted to ask!" Sairah replies with an embarrassed smile.   
  
She just looks at them stunned for a while. For some reason the four of them fit together very well. Then she goes into her bedroom without another word.

"Sairah?" she calls over.   
"Shouldn't you be getting them rooms?"  
"I did." it comes from the other room while Rey is changing.   
"I'm sure they all slept well too. But it's almost noon, and after we all had breakfast together, we came here to visit you... well, and then we waited for you."   
  
_Oh, great!_ That's what Rey thinks.   
"Is master Ben still asleep?" she asks.  
"How should I know?" she tries to dodge the obvious question.  
"So yes," Poe answers the question himself.   
"Poe Dameron!" Rose reprimands him again. After getting dressed, tying her hair together and putting the lightsaber back in its usual place on her belt, she goes to the four brawlers and ignores the last part of the conversation.   
  
"Where is the falcon?" she asks Finn.   
"Skywalker and Chewy get it. What are you up to?" he asks and points to her lightsaber.  
"I want to go to training."  
"Is that such a good idea?" asks Sairah with a wrinkled forehead.  
"Yes I know, last time the course didn't go so well but I'm sure I'm very concentrated today." She says while tying her shoes.  
  
"Not where I was going with that. It's just..."  
"What? Could 'Master Ren' object? It's none of his business!" Rey interrupts her.  
"Well, I know that, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is, it's raining outside."  
Rey gets wise.   
"Rain?" she asks with a twinkle in her eye.  
"Yeah, it's probably gonna keep raining all day..." Rey can't hear the next words, because she's already running out. Rain! Already on Ahch - To she was fascinated by the rain.  
  
  
  
She runs to the gate in front of the big square, there are only a few soldiers here, most of them are probably having lunch in the canteen right now. As soon as the cool drops touch her forehead, she closes her eyes and puts her head back into the neck. She holds her hands flat in front of her to feel the wet drops on her palms.  
  
"You will catch your death" says Sairah who followed her with the other three behind her. Rey turns to them and starts to laugh.   
"I like this," she says and lifts her head again with her eyes closed.   
"It has never rained on Jakku."  
  
"But with time, rain can become a nuisance." it comes from farther away. Leia also steps out, closely followed by C3PO and R2D2. Rey comes back to them in the protected area and Sairah puts a coat (Ben's coat) around her shoulders.  
"You have to take care of your health now!" Leia rebukes her.   
"As future Queen, you have great responsibilities."   
Rey already suspects that she will not like all of these tasks.  
  
Then the falcon shows up. Rey must involuntarily start laughing and runs towards the landing ship.  
"She seems happy here," Rose says to Finn. "Yes. Seems so." he returns slightly contrite.  
  


"I must admit, the falcon is in fine shape!" Say Rey to Poe.   
As soon as the ship landed, she had a good look at every corner. "Thank you! It's a great ship."  
"I'd heard the planet was secured by a shield, like the Starkiller base back then... how did you manage to land on the planet?" Leia asks, who now steps to them.  
Luke, who's carrying something out of the falcon, tells her as he passes by: "You don't want to know!  
  
"Well..." Poe begins.   
"The idea came from Finn... or Han for that matter."   
Both women look at him suspiciously.  
"It's worth noting that Han almost hit a mountain when he did the maneuver." Finn steps in to defend Poe.   
"And in Poe's case. there were no accidents."  
"Yes no, there haven't!" Poe says.  
"No, no! No accidents," Finn adds.  
  
Rey and Leia take a quick look at each other.  
"We landed at the speed of light because we were able to penetrate the shield." Tell Rose, who joins them with Sairah in tow.  
"Please what!" Rey asks in horror.  
"He said yes, I wouldn't like it." mumbles Leia and covers her eyes with one hand.  
  
Then BB8 comes rolling down the ramp and Rey walks towards the small Droid, kneels to him and points the small antenna on his head as a greeting.   
"No bent antenna!" says Rey.   
The droid answers with a few beeps. Rey smiles back and replies, "I missed you too BB8!"  
  
"Oh... yeah, right... I heard that you took care of BB8 on Jakku...thanks for that." Poe stammers, comes up to her and gives her a hand.  
"No problem." Rey replies and shakes his hand.  
"It all started with BB8."  
Then they hear a crash and hiss and then a roar of Chewy from inside.  
"Why did the converter blow?" Rey asks Poe and runs up the ramp into the interior.  
"She, uh... will kill you... you know that, don't you?" Finn asks Poe.  
  
  
  
A few hours later, Rey and Chewbacca have finished repairing the Millennium Falcon and leave the ship again. Chewy goes straight to the base to get something to eat and Rey turns to the falcon again and looks at it wistfully.   
All the memories that go with it. Hers and Luke's and Leia's and Han's...  
  
"I heard you changed the broken converter" that came from Poe coming at them.  
"Yes." Rey sounds testy.   
"Because someone with light-speed stuttering totally overheated him!"  
  
Poe seems to be searching for the right words for a moment, because he seems to want to start talking over and over again.   
"Uh. I, uh... have no idea who that was?"  
His silly grin makes her smile a bit, though.  
  
"You're a good pilot, they tell me." She's a lot calmer now.  
"The best!" Poe corrects her again. Rey smiles for a moment and then continues, "The hawk could use a pilot like you."  
"Are you offering me your job?" he asks her with eyes wide open.  
"Well, I won't have a chance to fly it anytime soon, and... together with Chewy, Finn and Rose, you make a pretty good team... don't you?" she asks him, looking at him as he says his last words.   
  
Poe seems to let the whole thing go through his mind for a moment and looks at the ship again.  
"Yes, I think it could be quite funny. After all, the mill made the Kessel flight in 14 parsecs."  
"12!" Rey replies angrily played.   
"I've already talked to Chewy, he doesn't mind. I think he likes you. And if you don't beat him at the Dejarik game, he'll let you live too," she says smiling and walks away.   
"He's cheating!" Poe calls after her.  
  
  
  
As if by magic, Rey did not go into her own room, but into Ben's. She didn't really notice it until she arrived there, though. But at that moment she didn't care. The repair of the falcon cost her a lot of energy.   
  
She massages her tense shoulder on the way to the bedroom and when she arrives, she just drops back on the bed and covers her eyes with her arm.  
  
She does not hear him come in. He's just suddenly there.   
Ben ben bends over her and gives her a kiss on the forehead. Rey just grumbles a little, then takes his arm off her face and smiles at him.   
"Hello!" she says, slightly embarrassed.   
"Hello." he replies with his deep voice and kisses her. When she notices him trying to take off her belt, she pushes it away.   
"Mmmm no! Ben I'm done! I'm dirty and stinking. I need a bath first," she moans.   
He stands before her and is silent for a moment.  
"Well, if that's all."   
  
No sooner has he said that than she reacts. She opens her eyes and says: "Wait what...?!" but her protest comes too late. He has already pulled her up and thrown himself over his shoulder and so he walks with her towards the bathroom.  
  
"No... wait Ben... that's not what I meant! Put me down... or!" she screams but he doesn't pay attention and carries her into the shower with a cheeky grin on her lips. "No! You wouldn't dare!" she threatens, but in that moment he has already turned her off and turned on the water. Already they are both hit by a warm rain. Ben starts to laugh and Rey also joins in before they fall into each other's arms, kiss wildly and take off each other's wet clothes.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a wonderful day. 
> 
> Stay well! 
> 
> Your Lori ❤


	18. The Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a dinner full of suspense and Finn is showing signs of becoming an jealous idiot...

Some time later they are both in bed again. She is lying on her back, he further down and has put his head on her stomach. Deep in thought she strokes through his still slightly damp hair. This moment feels just perfect.

"Why didn't you wake me up this morning?" he asks into the silence at some point.  
"You looked so peaceful. And besides, you hardly got any sleep last night," she replies thoughtlessly.  
"You haven't slept much either last night... Rey...I also think you're not eating enough." he says cautiously.  
"Boa! So, at least you are responsible for the lack of sleep!" 

Ben rises with a grin, gives her a kiss on the cheek and then lies down next to her. She turns to him, pulls her upper body over him and puts her head on his chest so she can hear his heartbeat. 

"I will see to it in the near future that you eat and sleep well... and do not drink too much Naboo wine!"  
"Why not too much wine?" she asks, feeling a laugh quicken his chest. "Because you suddenly start doing strange things when you drink too much of it... the last time you wanted to go swimming late at night..." 

"Ben..." she turns her head so she can look him in the eye.  
"...shut up!"  
"As you command... my queen," he answers with a satisfied smile. 

Gently he strokes this naughty streak behind her ear again and smiles.  
"We must dress slowly for dinner," he says in a calm voice. She trims. "Dinner?!"  
"Yes, that... Yes, that's usually done in the evening, sitting at a table, and here it comes... you eat something." As he talks, he gets up and puts on pants and a shirt. 

She throws a pillow at him for that insolent comment. 

"But I don't have my things here. Can't we just eat here?"  
"You insatiable..." he says mockingly while putting on a long vest.  
"No, this is not dinner for two. Your friends and my mother will be there." "What?" she asks and blushes. 

What an odd notion Finn, Poe, Rose and Chewy along with Luke, Leia and Ben... well, if that doesn't get us started?! 

"Is that such a good idea? You and Luke at the same table?"  
"Oh!" Ben turns to her.  
"I thought you knew."  
Then he walks up to her and sits next to her on the bed.  
"He left early this afternoon."  
That hurt Rey a little. She lowers her eyes.  
"He didn't want to say goodbye to anyone, only my mother could catch him before he disappeared. She might ask you about it later." 

With one hand under her chin, he pushes her head back up.  
"Head up! Enjoy the evening with your friends" she puts on a light smile and replies: "But I really don't have anything to wear here. My clothes are wet... Maybe I should go to my room and get something else first. Can I borrow some of your clothes?"  
"No more time!" he says, grinning cheekily. Then he gets up and walks away towards the closet. 

_Oh really... I can be cheeky too!_ She thinks to herself.  
"Then I'll have to go naked, for better or worse!"  
"Sure!" he replies with a raised eyebrow, opens the closet door and pulls out something long and light. 

"I took the liberty of helping myself to your cupboard earlier. I think you will find this dress uncomplicated. It's not quite floor-length and not too revealing," he says and presents the long piece of cloth to her. 

She looks at him with her lips clenched together and doesn't answer at first. He raises an eyebrow. "We can of course come back to the nude, but I think this is an adequate solution." 

Rey looks at the dress and then at him. He looks back amused. Then she rolls her eyes, shakes her head, grabs the dress and walks straight into the bathroom. When she gets there, she slams the door angrily.

Rey must admit that the dress is really uncomplicated. It is beige and the fabric is similar to the fabric of her tunic she always wore on Jakku. It is sleeveless, has a round and not too low neckline, a leather belt around the waist and it is actually not too long. All in all it is the perfect dress for her. She should apologize to him.

She sits on a stool in front of the mirror dresser and looks at herself in the mirror with her head resting on her hands. Her complexion is still rosy and the shadows under her eyes have still disappeared. Life with Ben seems to do her good, she thinks. 

Then he suddenly stands behind her and looks at her through the mirror. He looks unhappy.

"The dress is fine." she tries to catch him. 

He's silent. 

"I just don't want you to tell me what to do... Do you understand?" she asks and looks at him with drawn-up eyebrows. 

Without saying a word, he bends down to her and gives her a kiss on the cheek. At his tender touch she closes her eyes with relish and leans against him. They remain in this position for a while. 

"I didn't mean to upset you," he says at some point. 

"You didn't." she replies smiling and strokes his cheek with her hand. Slowly the area around his mouth starts to feel stubby.

When she wants to turn to him with a smile and give him a kiss, he has already risen again. He takes one arm forward and holds a fist next to her face. When he opens it a silver chain with a purple crystal appears.

"Ben that's beautiful," she says as he puts the chain on her. As soon as he is finished she takes the crystal between her fingers and admires him with a smile. 

"You didn't choose the colour of the dress yesterday for a reason, did you?" he asks curiously. Rey looks at him in the mirror. 

"Purple results from the colours of our lightsabers," he says and looks at her admiringly. 

"Yes... I didn't know if you understood." she mumbles.  
He goes to her side, kneels before her and takes her hands in his.

"Rey... I want you to stay with me in my room. That... you always sleep with me. But if you wish to keep your own room... I will..." he can't talk any further because she shuts him up with a kiss. She puts one hand on his neck and intensifies the kiss even more. 

As soon as he gently pushes his tongue against her lips, she opens them and lets him take over her mouth. As she moans slightly into the kiss, they separate, struggling for breath, and they both smile at each other. 

A silly grin spreads across his face that she starts to like. 

"I was going to have your things taken to my room in secret during dinner... but now I think it's better if I ask you first if..." 

She covers his mouth with her hand and says with her eyes closed and her lips protected: "Ben...! Please shut up again!" 

The evening went relatively quietly. In the big hall a bigger table had been set up this time and at the table Ben and Leia sat at the respective ends of the table. On one side to Ben's left sat Rose, Poe and Finn and on the other side Rey, Sairah (who was there today as a friend and not as a servant) and Chewbacca. Behind Leia stood C3 PO and added his mustard to everything and everyone. R2D2 and BB8 stood a bit further away and squeaked comments to each other.

Ben was very quiet the whole time and only listened to the conversations. However, most of the time he kept Rey's hand under the table, which calmed her (and him). 

Rose told him about her sister who died in a bombing raid and that she was a true heroine to her. Rey is now sure that she likes Rose. She has a calm and sensible charisma and pursues the urge to do the right thing. 

When Finn told about Rey's first flight with the Falcon and how together they took out the last hunter when the weapons got stuck, Rose stared at Rey with great awe. 

Poe asked about it: "Not bad! Who taught you how to fly?" 

Rey looked at him with furrowed eyebrows and curiously asked, "You need to be taught to fly?"  
Chewy, Sairah, Rose and Poe stared at her with their mouths open, only Finn was smiling.

Poe also tried to impress Sairah throughout the meal, who is engaged in conversations with Rose and Rey all the time. 

At some point Rey asks him with interest: "Poe? How does someone like you actually come to resist? What did you do before?" 

He doesn't seem to like this question at all, because he gets very evasive right away. 

He means something like _this_ and sometimes _that_. 

At some point Leia interjects: "Don't try to get that out of him! He has never told anyone what he did before the resistance. He was actually just there at one point." 

Even for Rey, that sounded suspicious. 

After another sip of her wine, it is already her fourth glass, she looks at Sairah forcefully. She understands immediately and asks Poe, who is sitting opposite her with a coquettish, seductive smile, if he would like to tell her what he had done before. 

What nobody (except Ben and Leia) realizes is that Rey manipulates him with a force trick and he actually admits at some point: "I... was a... really very good... spice smuggler"... everyone stares at him with big eyes... but his eyes are the widest open. 

"Damn, why did I just say that?" he asks in surprise. 

Then it blurts out Finn, Rose, Sairah and Rey all at once.  
"Spice smuggler?"  
"You were a spice smuggler?" Finn asks amused.  
"You were an Storm trooper?" Poe asks back.  
"Were you really a spice smuggler?" asks Rey.  
"Were you really a scavenger?" Poe asks back  
"I can keep this up all night... can we not do this now!"  
Then everybody (except Ben and Leia) starts laughing, and Poe laughs, too. 

At some point Rey looks in Ben's direction and realizes why he had been squeezing her hand a little harder and harder during the last minutes. He does not look amused. Silently, he takes Rey's wine glass and puts it away from her. A clear sign that he thinks she's had enough for today. 

She removes her hand from him and looks at Leia inconspicuously. She doesn't look amused either and looks at Rey blaming her. She lowers her eyes with reddened cheeks. 

"And how does such a pretty Twi'lek end up on a base of the, by now, former First Order?" Poe asks and attracts the attention of the others again. Sairah, on the other hand, who seems to have watched the spectacle between Rey's and Ben's hands until a moment ago, only understood the question a moment later.

"How? What? Oh?!" she now looks at Poe.  
"Well... I am here because I was taken from my former master."  
"You were a slave?" asks Rose.  
"Yes... my former master made an enemy of the First Order... and eventually troops under Master Ben came and destroyed his fortress. He took me and some other slaves with him. We've lived and worked here ever since." 

"So you are a slave here now?" Poe asks straight out.  
Rey doesn't have to hold his hand to see that Ben doesn't like that question.  
"No! There is a little village a little further away with former slaves like me. But I want to stay here..." Now you can see a slight red tinge under her blue complexion.  
"Because my beloved works here. We want to marry some day..."  
"You are engaged?" Poe asks, slightly disappointed. 

"I didn't know that the first order also freed slaves!" says Finn in an angry tone.  
"Neither did they." That answer came from Ben.  
"This base has always been under my sole control and I have never had much interest in slavery."  
"Yes... Yes, but there are many other things your interesting in." Finn intervenes.

Everyone looks at him and then back at Ben. He looks angry at first, but seems to calm down quickly and grabs Rey's hand which is on the table. She rolls her eyes scornfully and looks at Sairah who starts giggling on it. 

Finn however doesn't seem to find the whole thing funny at all. But before he can say something he might regret afterwards Leia calls in between: " **Enough now!** " 

She puts both palms of her hands on the tablet, breathes deeply and stands up.  
"I am tired. It's getting late and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," she looks at Finn and then Poe and walks towards the exit. 

As she passes Rey and Ben, who have both jumped up, she gives them both a kiss on the cheek. 

She says to Rey,  
"We'll talk tomorrow."  
Rey nods smiling. 

And to Ben she says: "Take care of your fiancée, she obviously likes to make nonsense when she has drunk too much wine" whereupon he also nods with a smile.  
Rey turns bright red and lowers her head.

"We'll be leaving now too...!" says Rose, addressing Finn and Poe.  
"Before either of you starts another intergalactic war!"  
Sairah giggles and gets up and wants to say goodbye, too. Ben holds her back for a moment and waits until the other four have gone. 

"You said you were getting married?!"  
"Yes..." she replies with a dreamy look (she too had a few glasses of wine)  
„... as soon as my king gives my beloved permission."  
Ben smiles.  
"I think your queen will be able to give him that permission before then." Rey interferes radiantly.

"What I really want to know is, will you leave us after this?" 

Rey looks at him in shock and then at Sairah. She slowly approaches Rey, takes her hands in her own and says: "I will not leave my Queen... ...but who else will pick out the beautiful dresses for her." 

Even though the last comment was superfluous, Rey is still very touched and takes Sairah firmly in her arms  
"Thank you, my friend."

Finn, Rose and Poe are watching this from a safe distance. Sairah whispers something else into Rey's ear that makes her blush.  
Then the Twi'lek winks at her and bows goodbye and leaves. 

Rose asks her what she has whispered to her. "Oh nothing! Just a little advice from woman to woman." 

Finn and Poe look at each other briefly afterwards and Poe starts laughing softly. Finn doesn't. He first looks after the girls and then one last time at the future royal couple before he too leaves the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering what advice Sairah whispered in her ear.  
> It certainly had something to do with the benefits of make-up sex ;)
> 
> And I know I used some lines from TROS.
> 
> Have a nice day! It's raining at our place.
> 
> Your Lori ❤


	19. Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention that Finn is a jealous jerk?

Rey stands up straight and unconsciously holds her hands just like Leia had advised her to do the day before. Only she stares at the ground, lost in thought.

Ben puts two fingers under her chin and lifts her head so that she looks into his eyes. His look is hard for her to interpret and Rey gets slightly nervous.

"Are you mad at me?" he then asks.  
She trims.  
"I actually thought that you were mad at me... because of the thing with Poe." she replies and turns her head away in shame.  
He puts both hands on her head and turns it back towards him.

"I've seen the looks my mother gave you... you're punished enough," he says with a cheeky grin on his lips. And she has to go into the grin.

"Then why should I be angry with you? Because of the provocation against Finn?" she asks with a furrowed forehead.  
Ben looks at her silently for a long time and then asks: "It doesn't matter what I say now... I've already lost anyway?"  
Rey puts on a crooked smile.  
"I'm glad you understood that so quickly." and gives him a little kiss.

Ben lets his hands slide down over her neck, shoulders and arms until he pulls her by the hip and whispers to her between two kisses: "Come on, let's go to bed!"

On the way to her room they walk hand in hand and Rey has to realize that she really doesn't tolerate the Naboo wine that well because at some point she rests on his arm when she loses her balance and almost falls. Ben catches her and lifts her into his arms.  
With her arms around his shoulders she gives him gentle kisses on his cheek.

"You know... you've carried me like this before," she says softly into his ear.  
"Yes, I know... it was only the night before last when you fell asleep by the lake."  
"No, that's not what I mean...!" she replies and starts nibbling his earlobe.  
"Rey! Stop it...!" he says sternly.

_O-oh! Tender earlobe?!_

"Come on, remember?" she keeps asking him.  
"That was when we first met." there is a slightly playful undertone in her voice.  
Ben looks at her suspiciously.  
"Did you ever think that we would go so far together?" she asks him more seriously.

Ben has now stopped and is looking at her closely.  
"Do you mean our connection... our engagement or the way I'm attracted to you?" he asks in a seductive voice and continues.  
"The last... did you find me interesting then?" she asks curiously.  
Now he pays attention to every other word, because he doesn't know when she gets something down her wrong throat... and he doesn't want to ruin the rest of the evening.

"Well, you... as a person I was already interested in when I was told about a girl from the wilderness of Jakku who had managed to shake off and escape some of the best hunters with a scrap ship. And I was interested in your abilities as soon as the power awakened in you... I was very interested in that and... a little... well, let's just say... envious. And this other kind of interest in you I had... when I first saw you... you must remember that I'm just a man too." he concludes his statement with a crooked smile. "So yes, I was very interested in you as a woman. and no, I never thought that we would go this far together."

For now, Rey just looks at him thoughtfully as he carries her back to ther room.

"Yes, but do you think it's right... I mean he's..."  
"If you want to know if I think it's okay that Rey is marrying this asshole... Well on the one hand no... because he's a jerk and... on the other hand yes, because right now those two have the only way to pacify the galaxy." Poe answers his friend Finn and throws him a pillow. 

Both share a room and Finn has been trying to get the pilot on his side for a quarter of an hour now. On his side against Ben Solo.

"But what if he is up to something?" he asks (probably for the third time).  
"Yeah, sure... The guy gets the girl he feels every other guy here has the hots for, plus a crown and practically the whole universe... but he's actually planning on screwing everybody to... what...? What do you think he's planning? Above all, what should he plan that neither Luke Skywalker, his mother Leia Organa nor the aforementioned girl or Jedi prodigy should not feel?" he asks him back.

"Finn! Just face it... The only reason you don't trust him is because... he got the girl that you like!" while he's saying this, he puts his finger on Finn's chest and flicks his nose at the last word.  
Finn looks thoughtfully down as Poe lies down in bed and turns around. 

"Now let me sleep, you post! As Leia said, we've got a busy day tomorrow."  
Finn continues to look thoughtful and after a short wait can already hear Poe's snoring.  
He looks briefly at the snoring figure of his best friend and then leaves the room.

The day before Sairah had gone with them towards his room. Even if he does not like it he knows that she is with him at this moment. But he must speak to her before it is too late he must hear it from her.  
He has passed the way quickly and knocks at the door energetically.

A giggle is heard. "That tickles!"  
Rey lies naked on her back in bed and Ben is on top of her, giving gentle kisses on her stomach and breasts. She puts his face between her hands and pulls him up into her. During a passionate kiss Ben lies down between her legs in position but then...

A loud knock on the door freezes them both in motion.  
Rey pushes Ben away from her and gets up with him.  
"Finn?!" she says softly.  
"You should talk to him." Ben replies calmly.  
Rey looks at him in surprise. He is so calm... almost too calm.  
Rey grabs his shirt so tight you're almost down to your knees and leaves Ben alone in bed.

When she opens the door and steps out to him he is shocked by her appearance for a moment, but then looks away embarrassed.  
"Finn! What are you doing here?" she asks and pulls him slightly away from the door while holding the upper part of her shirt with one hand.  
The one addressed still looks to the side with an obstinate look, but keeps glancing at her scantily clad body.

"I wanted to talk to you before we leave tomorrow!" he says and now looks her in the eyes.  
"And that couldn't wait until tomorrow?" she asks and strokes a wisp of hair from her face.  
"No, it couldn't!" he says a bit more energetically now.

She just looks at him and waits for further explanations.  
"Is this what you want?" he asks in a firm voice. She remains silent.  
"I mean, you know who he is and you know what he did... and yet..."

"I'm gonna stop you right there before you say things. you can't take back!" she lowers her head for a moment and takes a deep breath.  
"I have chosen him. I can't explain it, but we've always belonged together. Through him the power has awakened in me. It has always been in me and... it is as if I have always waited for him..." while she speaks he can see a glow in her eyes.

"Do you love him?"  
She needs to smile.  
"I actually thought we settled that yesterday in the throne room... Yes! I love him and..." with a slight shake of her head, her gaze wanders to a distant point  
„... with him I am a whole!" she says and looks at him with an intense expression in her eyes.

Finn lowers his head.  
"Hey!" she says and raises his head again with one hand.  
"We do not fight what we hate... we protect what we love!"  
Finn is confused for a moment because this sentence sounds very familiar...  
She gently touches his cheek and looks him friendly in the eyes.  
"Finn... you're my best friend and I don't want to lose you... But if you ever make me choose between you and him..."  
"I know, I know!" he cuts her off fast.

"Good!" she says with a slightly threatening undertone.  
"Good night, Rey!" he says, trying to pull her into a hug, which makes her shy away from him. It would be uncomfortable for her to be embraced by him so scantily clad. She pulls the shirt she borrowed from Ben and shrugs her shoulders apologetically. 

"All right!" he says pardoningly and turns around, his head red as a beet, to leave. Then he stops for a moment and says, "I'm surprised..."  
"What?" asks Rey and puts her head to one side.  
"That he didn't come out and mess me up."

Rey smiles.  
"Yeah, 'cause he knows what he'll get if he lays a hand on one of my friends."  
"Oh yeah?" he asks amused.  
"You know... it's a great advantage to be able to share your thoughts with your partner without any problems... he knows that I'm stronger than I look like." Finn smiles at her last comment and inevitably has to think back to their first meeting when he wanted to help her on Jakku... which turned out to be completely unnecessary...  
He will never forget how suddenly this angry girl, ready for a fight, came rushing towards him.

Rey is going back to her room.  
He looks at her for a while and then the flash of inspiration comes. He remembers where he had heard that sentence before with ... we protect what we love... Rose said that to him once.  
But why did Rey...?  
Maybe she meant... No...! Finn shakes his head and walks away again towards his lodging. 

Rey stands with her back against the door for a moment and has her eyes on the door.  
With a smile she acknowledges that Finn is moving away from her.

When she returns to the bedroom Ben sits at the head end of the bed and looks at her expectantly.  
"Say, can you explain that to me?" he asks in a huff.

The person addressed is surprised by his sudden attack and doesn't know for a moment what exactly is bothering him. He just looks at her challengingly. Slowly she gets angry... she has not the slightest idea what she has just done wrong... and she is sure... jealousy does not suit him at all!

"What exactly do you want to be explained?" she asks him bitchy.  
Then he grins cheekily.  
"Why are you still wearing that shirt?"

She didn't expect that... She walks towards the bed, shaking her head.  
He sits on the edge of the bed in front of her and pulls her on the shirt over to him. Now she stands between his legs and he pulls her shirt up to her chest.  
"Where were we?" 

He gives her gentle kisses on the stomach again and she carefully puts her hands on the back of his head. She kisses him lightly on the hairline. Then he takes off her shirt completely, grabs her by the waist and pushes her closer again. Very gently he bites her nipple and she starts giggling again.  
"I think we've already been there," he says with a deep murmur in his voice.

She pulls his head back up.  
"I never told you this..." she begins and is suddenly unsure whether she should really do it.  
"At least I never said it out loud in front of you. But..." she bites her lower lip again and Ben smiles and thinks that he can do it much better.

„... I love you." She blushes immediately and looks away.  
"I know that." he says with a rogue in his voice. Now she looks him in the eye again. Something about his tone baffles her.  
"It is of great advantage if you can share your thoughts with your partner without any problems." he repeats exactly what she just said to Finn.

"That's why..." he starts, lifts her up and drops her back on the bed. She makes a short squeak and starts to laugh. He leans over her and silences her with a very forceful kiss. During the kiss he sends her pictures of what he is going to do with her that night and an unspeakable anticipation builds up inside her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a nice weekend. Stay healthy. Your Lori ❤


	20. The Force Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the conversation with Leia, some things become clearer to Rey.

The next morning Rey wakes up very early because Ben tickles her nose with a wisp. She giggles slightly and keeps pushing his hand away but he only stops when she opens her eyes and looks at him sleepily. 

She has fallen asleep with her head on his chest to the soothing breathing movements. Now he looks at her playfully.

"Come on, we have to get up."   
He stands up and she looks at the window as she rubs her eyes.  
"But the sun hasn't risen yet," she says between a yawn and stretches.

"You will run through the training course before the others leave." He says, pulling her hands out of bed and towards the door.

"Shouldn't I put some clothes on first?" she asks grumpy as he pulls her through the living room into the bathroom.

"We're going to take a shower first!" he utters only briefly. She immediately understands what he is up to. 

"Oh, Ben! I'm not really awake yet!" she protests as he places her in the shower against the cold wall, which makes her flinch briefly.   
"That can be changed," he says and kneels on the floor in front of her. 

The next moment she is wide awake as he starts to kiss and caress her middle. She opens her eyes with a jerk and gives a hoarse "Hhhoooohhhchhhh!" from him. To intensify this he puts her left leg over his shoulder and deepens his treatment. 

Rey can hardly stand upright, again and again her knee, which is not over his shoulder, threatens to bend away. An unbelievable pressure builds up inside her and threatens to burst her. 

As soon as he adds two fingers to his efforts, she can no longer hold it back and an all-encompassing wave of ecstasy carries her away. 

Before she collapses, Ben gets back on his feet, lifts her up by her waist and presses her against the wall. She wraps her arms and legs around him and he penetrates her with one movement. 

His thrusts are wild and powerful and press her back painfully against the wall. On her heated skin the shower wall feels icy cold. 

After a short time this pressure builds up again and her moaning adapts to his movements. Involuntarily, she scratches his back once across and leaves long red marks. He moans with pain and lust and kisses her wildly and messy. Teeth clash, but they don't care.

When they come together they remain frozen in motion for a moment before they sink to the ground together. 

Ben leans with his back against the wall and has her on his lap in his arms. Together they come to rest again, breathing heavily. Rey is totally exhausted and the skin on her back feels sore.

"Weren't we supposed to take a shower?" Rey asks with a smile on her lips. Ben raises his hand and turns on the water. When they are hit by a jet of cold water in the next moment they flinch and start laughing heartily.

"You know what you have to do, don't you?!" Ben says a good hour later on the exercise yard when he blindfolds Rey.

"Yes, I've done that successfully before," she answers and stretches her neck in all directions to release the tension a little. 

Ben had insisted that she have a decent breakfast before they left. For the brunette it is still very unusual for someone to look after her. She had always taken care of herself on Jakku. That's why she always gets into a fighting mood every time he patronizes her and starts whining. 

But Ben quickly learned to walk with her moods. He takes it with an angel's patience when she starts to buck. 

Rey quickly notices that he can pull himself together very well in her presence (except for the one time when he smashed a chair). He tells her when he doesn't like something, like yesterday when she nibbled on his earlobe, but always in a calm tone... he never yells at her or raises his voice.

She's gonna have to learn to walk with his caring... and with his quick-witted lust. He manages to get her going in no time and she enjoys every moment of togetherness with him.

For a short time she has to think back to her erotic play in the shower in the morning and immediately blushes. Ben notices her change of mood immediately.   
"Please concentrate." He's asking hard.  
 _Son of a bitch!_ She thinks and collects herself again.

"Well... go!" he says and she runs.

Even if she can't see anything, she knows exactly where they carry her feet. Meanwhile she can guess where the bumps in the ground are that had brought her to her knees so often the last time. It doesn't take long and she feels the Stony Beach under her feet and reaches for the lightsaber. As soon as she has caught it she lets the light beam appear and has to fend off the first salvo of the little training droid. She runs back through the forest with the drawn lightsaber. Arrived at the small canyon she has to balance a little bit more carefully over the fallen tree. But with a few skilful turns she makes it over the last part and has safe ground under her feet again. Shortly before she can reach the clearing again she is under increasing fire and has to stop for a moment to block the tiny laser beams. When she finally makes it to the clearing, she can destroy the droid with a skillful blow.

She has done it. 

She takes a deep breath and pulls back the lightsaber. She can feel that Ben is satisfied. Without taking off the blindfold she walks straight towards him. She puts one hand lightly on his chest and then lets it slide up. Over his collarbone along his throat and neck. Until she runs her fingers through his hair and pulls him gently towards her. During a long and intimate kiss he takes off her blindfold, closes her in his arms and lifts it slightly.

A soft clearing of his throat makes her freeze again. Leia has approached them inconspicuously. 

"Can I borrow your fiancée for a moment!" she asks friendly.

Ben puts Rey down on the floor again, gives his mother a kiss on her hair and walks away in silence.

Rey is still slightly flushed when Leia comes to her and grabs her hands. "Come on, let's sit down."   
Together they walk onto a stone that has room for both of them.

"I don't know where to begin..."  
"Why has Master Skywalker left?" Rey interrupts her quickly.  
"Well..." Leia says dryly... "I'll start there, then." and looks away from her.

"My brother is... you know, not a man who likes to admit when he's wrong. You've proven what he never believed in for a moment. For him it was always clear that you can only defeat the dark side in you if you completely dedicate yourself to the light side. He never shared my beliefs." 

Rey looks at her questioningly.

"Well... Now, the Jedi were once there to maintain balance in the universe. which I believe they failed to do for thousands of years..." 

Leia is taking a long pause.

"How can you talk balance when you only see the light side?"

Rey understands what she's getting at.

"You and Ben have managed to find a logical middle ground. You're not a light side jedi, and he... is no longer a sith who moves on the dark side. Neither of you has been able to fully lure the other to his side. But you have both managed to come together. Maybe a balance can be struck right there... Compromise."

"Is he very disappointed in me?" Rey asks dejectedly.  
"No! he's just gonna learn to deal with what he's seen for years. The end of the Jedi has come. and you and Ben have brought it about." 

Rey smiles at her slightly. 

"Do not worry... Luke is just... Luke!" she says, smiling back.

"As for my son..." Rey gets a little nervous.   
"You have... ...accomplished what nobody, including me, believed in anymore. You brought back Ben Solo." she says, and there are tears in her eyes.   
"And there are no words to express my gratitude But it comforts me to know that I will soon be able to call you my daughter." 

Leia strokes Rey's face with her hand and gives her a kiss on the forehead.  
She could never explain it before, but ever since she met the General, she felt safe with her... as one would feel when born to a mother. 

Rey rolls a few tears down her cheek and she embraces Leia.  
As soon as she returns her hug and touches her shoulder blades, Rey has to groan in pain.  
The former princess looks at her in shock.

"Rey! Dear what have you got there?" she asks anxiously.  
"Oh, that's nothing!" says the young woman with reddened cheeks and lets her shoulders circle a little.  
Rey quietly decides that her future mother-in-law does not need to know about her sex injuries.   
Fortunately Leia leaves it at that.

"Luke told me there was a force connection between you. How do you think that happened?"  
"That... I don't know exactly..." Rey starts explaining, but then she remembers Snoke's words.  
"Snoke." she says, lowering her eyes.   
"He has joined us together in this way to lure me and test his fidelity..."

"It wasn't a deserter who killed him," Leia suspects.  
"No. Ben betrayed him." 

Rey lowers her head sadly. That's another thing she refuses to think about. Just like Han Solo, Luke's school, and all the others killed by Kylo Ren.   
Below her the earth threatens to open and pull her into a deep hole ...  
Into the darkness.

"Rey!" Leia demands her attention again. 

As soon as Rey looks into her eyes, she must realize that her vision is clouded by a veil of tears.

"I cannot take away the pain that his other acts have caused you... I can't even take it away myself, but..."   
She puts her hands on either side of Ray's face and looks deep into her eyes. 

"Why did he betray Snoke?"  
"Because he wanted the power." she chokes to death.  
"No! Why? What would he have done if he had obeyed him?"  
Rey thinks for a moment and then admits,   
"He would have killed me."  
"Exactly!" Leia says and smiles at her.  
"He chose to betray his master when he was ordered to kill you... He didn't betray Snoke because he wanted to seize power... he simply refused to cause your death... during this force connection you can touch each other... and in the touch on Ahch-To, did you see something?" she asks more forcefully now.

"Yes... i saw him next to me... in the light."   
"And he saw you beside him in the darkness. But you didn't choose either of those two possibilities... you went your own way. I can't imagine that my son, when he took you with him from the beginning, intended to form a Grey Alliance..."

"He will have planned to rule the First Order with me."  
"No." Leia lovingly corrects them.  
"He probably never gave it much thought. He just wanted you with him. …. Snoke made his greatest mistake with the bond he forged between you. He underestimated the way the bond between you was building.

Rey's gonna have to think about what she just said for a moment.

"Come on now! I have a lot to do if I'm going to convince the rebels that the grey alliance means peace and freedom for us all."

They both get up and Leia gently gives her another hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a nice weekend. 
> 
> Lori ❤


	21. The vanished Rey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention that Finn is a stupid jerk?

Arrived at the hangar place the Falcon seems to be almost ready for take off.  
Sairah stands in a corner and says goodbye to Rose. 

On the way to them Rey is pulled into a strong hug by Chewy and he tells her a few words of farewell in his language.

Arrived at the girls', Rey is suddenly pulled into a small group hug by Sairah. 

"I will miss Rose so much." she says subdued into the hug.  
"We will surely meet again!" Rose replies reassuringly.  
"For sure!" says rey.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Queen Rey." says the technician as she can free herself from the cuddle.  
Rey laughs nervously for a moment.   
"Queen?!"  
"You should get used to being called that more often in the future!"  
"I will get used to it!" says Sairah with a winning smile.  
"Have fun with her!" she winked at Rey and went to the falcon.

"So..." it comes from the side of Poe Dameron.  
"And you won't make up your mind to leave your soldier and travel with us?" he asks Sairah.  
She just smiles and then says in a honeyed soft voice: "I don't think so! But it was a pleasure to meet you... Best rebel pilot... Poe Dameron." with the last words she gently strokes his cheek with her fingers and walks away.  
"Oh man... there she goes! What a sweet thing!"

"Nice to meet you." Rey bursts into his reverie.  
"Yes, the time we spent with you was very...exciting. I'm sorry you're not coming with us. I'm sure we'd have a lot of fun."  
"You'll have fun without me. And take good care of Han's ship!"  
"The junkyard?!" Poe replies, turning his eyes towards the Millennium Falcon.   
"No one can get it down that fast!"

They both shake hands and smile at each other as they say goodbye.  
"Where is Finn?" Rey asks the pilot.  
"He..." he starts and looks around. "...should be around here somewhere..."

"Poe! We're ready when you are." Rose calls to him from the falcon's ramp.  
The pilot walks away and throws Rey another   
"Take care" after.

She watches him go up the ramp for a moment. Ben and Leia are standing a few feet away. She lets him hug her once, then points to Rey and tells him something else while she looks at him urgently. Rey has to smile.

As soon as she has gone up the ramp, it is closed. Rey looks a little baffled. 

Finn! 

He does not even want to say goodbye properly. Ben comes to her, carefully puts an arm around her shoulders and gives her a light kiss on her hair.

"Leave him! It's hard for him." he whispers to her. She looks at him briefly and then looks to the cockpit where she can see Chewy and Poe in the front seats. Behind them Rose sits and waves to her and next to her... Finn, just staring at her. He nods at her and then the Millennium Falcon rises and they fly away. 

Ben props his head on one hand. The last hologram of an ally just disappears.  
He's been negotiating with other systems all day. 

Tonight he will tell Rey that in two days they must leave for other worlds to complete further negotiations. That would take a lot of time. Time he can't be alone with her.

All the time he is thinking about her face from this morning. When the Millennium Falcon took off without Finn saying goodbye to her. 

That traitorous idiot! 

It must have hurt her feelings.  
Unfortunately, he had to go straight to the conference room afterwards. In the future, he'll be more likely to have no time for her. 

So he should plan his last day with her as comfortably as possible. Or should he just stay in bed with her all day tomorrow?

Then he feels the burning pain on his back again. Rey had scratched his back in the shower during his morning lovemaking. Every time the spot hurt him, he had to think back with a slight smile. And then the words of his mother came back to him.

"Make sure that wounds like that stay invisible!" she said and lightly slapped him on the back. 

It was quite clear that she meant Ray's back, but how did she know that again? 

Tonight he will have to look at her back. He knew already after the shower that her skin was sore at that spot.

With an exhausted groan, he gets up and leaves the conference room.  
In the corridor one of the Twi'lek already comes towards him. 

"Master Ren!"

Maybe they should all call him Ben now, he thinks for a moment.

"Lady Sairah is looking for you," she says in a high-pitched, excited voice  
"She's in the hangar deck."

A little worried, he goes there. He wonder what she's got that she sent for him.

Arriving there he sees Sairah, who speaks energetically to a group of soldiers.  
As soon as she notices him, she comes running towards him with a worried face.  
The sun has almost gone down and it has already become dark in the forest.

"Master Ben! We've looked everywhere, we just can't find her," she says excitedly.   
"I'll send a group into the forest immediately to look for her there. She must be somewhere!"  
"Wait a minute, wait... who's disappeared?"  
"Mistress Rey, she hasn't been up all day. I had taken her lunch to her room earlier, and when I went to bring her dinner, lunch was still waiting. No one has seen her since this morning."

"Take it easy Sairah! Bring back the soldiers! I'll find her." he tells her in a very calming way.

He reassures her that he will get them back, asks her to prepare a few things in his and Rey's room and sends her away.  
Then he turns to the base and concentrates.

"Please go away!" When he opens his eyes again, he can see her sitting huddled on the floor.  
"Where are you Rey?" he asks her calmly.  
"I want to be alone! Please leave me alone!" she replies, not looking at him.  
"Tell me where you are!" it comes a little less quiet from him now.  
"I don't want to talk to you! Go away!" she grumbles at him.

Ben looks at her closely. He can't make out the people around her. It's just her. Then he walks up to her. He can see that her hair is moved a little bit by the wind and that her skin is shone by the last sunlight. 

"Rey please..."  
 **"I said leave me alone!"** she screams now and ends the force connection.

He looks back at the base and looks for the position of the sun. The last rays are still reaching a small part of the building and...  
Now he knows where she is.

Upstairs, he curses himself a little for showing her how to get up here a few days ago. 

She will have taken the stairs formerly used by the servants. Nobody goes up and down them anymore. But he wanted her to feel comfortable here and that means that she can go wherever she wants. That includes the roof.

"Do you know that Sairah is terribly worried about you?!" he asks his fiancée who is sitting on the floor, looking stubbornly straight ahead. She has her arms wrapped around her legs and her head on her knees.

Ben walks slowly towards her.   
"I told you to leave me alone!" she says briefly but somewhat more calmly.  
He stands beside her and looks up at the sky.

"I'm sure they'll have reached the rebel base by now."

"He didn't even say goodbye!" she says and seems to struggle with a few tears. 

"Yes he did! He said goodbye to me." he admits. (If you want to call this saying goodbye... he threatened and insulted him but...)

She looks at him in shock.  
"And I can understand that his disappearance hurts you..."

"I thought we were friends" she interrupts him with tears in her eyes.

"...but I can understand him too!" he continues.  
"Why are you so understanding all of a sudden?" she poisons him.

"Because I could be in his place..." she just looks at him questioningly.  
"I too could be where he is now..."  
"And where is that?" she asks and looks away again.

"But I can only imagine what it must be like... to love you and watch you lying in the arms of another."

Rey looks down sadly.  
"Forgive him for today," he says calmly and sits down with her.  
"And if you see him again, you may punish him with silence." he suggests. 

She looks at him with raised eyebrows.  
"The worst thing for me is your silence." he confesses with a smile. She can't help but smile a little.

"And that's what I like to see the most!"  
"What?" she asks wounded.  
"Your smile..." suddenly he looks up and looks around searching. Then he turns back to her with a grin.

"Do you remember when we were first here?"  
"Yeah, you apologized to me. And then I..."  
"We had a vision." 

Rey thinks back for a moment to the vision that resembled the vision on Ahch-To except for one new image.

"I saw something new then." she answers with her eyes closed.  
"I, too... and after everything I screwed up before... I just wish that this was the part of the vision that I saw."

She looks at him questioningly. She wonder if they had the same vision.   
In her vision, she had seen him smile. That lovely boyish smile that she only saw on him when she had agreed to marry him.

"What did you see in your vision?" she then asks.  
"You." he just says.   
"I saw you... You said my name and you... smiled. I love your smile."

They look at each other for a long time and Rey starts to understand that their visions belong together... just like the two of them.

"I'm sorry that you and Sairah worried about me. I didn't mean to."  
"Well, Sairah really cared about you... but I didn't."  
Asking, she looks at him.

"No... another feeling was stronger... I'm more mad at you."

"Why?" she asks without understanding.  
"Because you haven't eaten again." Rey purses her lips and looks away insulted. This paternalism again.

"There it is again." he says amusedly.   
"My petulant girl." he says, leaning over and kissing her on the temple.

"Come on, let's go back down."   
He gets up and gives her his hand to stand up.  
She looks away for a moment in annoyance... but he waits patiently for her. Eventually, she gives in, takes his hand and lets him pull her up. As soon as she stands, she falls again. He catches her and has to laugh. 

"I don't want to know..." he lifts her up in his arms "...how long you've been sitting here."

"Ben...! You don't have to carry me." she tries to get away from him.   
"One of these days you're gonna lift a hernia cause of me." she says embarrassed.

"With the portions of mice you eat here? Probably not!" he replies jokingly.

On the way over the roof to the staircase and down the first few steps she stares at him angrily again, but he just doesn't react. She wants to lure him out of his reserve but how?

She changes tactics. Gently she strokes her fingers over the slight beard growth on his cheek and kisses the spot. He doesn't react yet. Then her mouth moves up to his ear and she nibbles his earlobe again.   
He stops abruptly and looks at her urgently. 

"Rey! Stop that!" he says in a calm voice, but under this calm, a bubbling can be seen.

"Make me!" she says cheekily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy a nice Sunday! 
> 
> Stay healthy, everybody! 
> 
> Greetings Lori❤


	22. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey has gone too far and has to clarify some things with Ben.

For what feels like an eternity he stands on the stairs with her in his arms and stares at her.

>Then make me!<

_Did she really just say that? ... Is she crazy?_

It works inside him for a while and he weighs it out. He'd like to put her down and just take her, pressed against the wall. You could hear it all the way down the stairs. And he'd probably hurt her. He gets a little tired of punishing her like that. 

... if she would fight back?  
No...!   
He doesn't want her like this.   
He'll never force her to do anything again. 

She still looks at him defiantly. He just walks on, doesn't say a word and doesn't look at her anymore.

Slowly she begins to realize that she has just gone too far. 

She gathers up her courage and wants to apologize to him, because that is not really who she is.   
This is a dangerous game she wanted to play. Fortunately for her, he is not playing it. 

But before she can say anything, he stops again.

"Do me a favor. Pretend to be asleep."  
"What?" she asks confused.  
"Go ahead. You can listen to it tomorrow." 

Rey is still confused but as soon as the door opens she drops her head and gives the sleeping one away.

"Oh! You found her!?" asks Sairah's excited voice.  
"Shhhhhht!" Ben warns her.  
"Oh, I'm sorry. I have run the bath for you and prepared the ointments you requested."  
"Thank you Sairah, that will be all for today" he says and passes her by. 

As he walks away, Rey can see Sairah's face through her slightly open eyes.   
She would have to apologize to her tomorrow. 

When he is bent around a corner with her, she raises her head again and looks at him closely. He looks straight without any movement.   
"Thank you!" she says succinctly.   
He nods briefly.

Arriving in the room, he carries her straight into the bathroom.   
It almost takes her breath away.   
There are candles everywhere. The bathtub, which is embedded in the floor, is filled to the brim with warm water, which gives off a pleasant scent. On the floor next to the tub there are plates with little bites, fresh fruit and delicious looking pastries. 

Rey immediately gets a bad conscience. He had all this prepared for her to spend a nice evening with her. And what does she...

He lets her down and starts taking off his clothes. While she watches him do it, he doesn't even look at her. He's still angry at her, realizes she's gone and looks sadly down. 

Then suddenly he stands behind her and takes off her tunic and pants. She lets him do it to her, like a little girl who is getting ready for a bath.   
And that's the way she behaved, like a silly little child.   
Because Finn hurt her, she had hit around and meet Ben, who can't help it at all. 

As soon as she is naked he unravels her braids and loosens her hair. She crosses her arms in front of her chest and almost has to fight with the tears. 

Then he leads her to the tub.   
As the warm water embraces her ankles, the first tears roll down her cheek. Something spills over when they are both in the tub. While standing, the water reaches almost over her breasts. On two sides there is a raised area where you can sit down, like on a bench. 

He is still behind her and as soon as he moves again she turns to him. He sits down on one of these benches and puts his arms outstretched on the edge of the tub. Then he lets his head fall back and breathes out deeply. 

The many conversations today seem to have exhausted him. And then he has to fight with her... 

He raises his head slightly and looks at her for a moment. He can see that tears run down her cheek. He rubs his eyes with one hand and takes another deep breath.

"Please do this... please never do that again."   
He leans forward again. She nods a few times.  
"Come to me now, please!" he says and gives her his hand again. She slowly walks towards him and sits down next to him with her head bowed. He moves a little closer to her and some water spouts out again.

"Please turn around and support yourself on the edge of the pool! "  
She does as she is told and is confused for a moment. When he is behind her, she panics briefly and looks at him with eyes wide open.  
"What did you...?" she starts in a fragile voice.

He is surprised by her panicky look for a moment but then he understands. He puts on a crooked smile.   
_She can be so sweet sometimes._

He pulls her towards him at the waist and sits down with her on his lap. She made a little sound of fright when he suddenly got that close again... 

With his mouth to her ear he whispers: "Don't be afraid Rey... we are not animals... I want to look you in the eyes when I fuck you." 

Then he gently caresses her neck, making her moan a little.  
"I just want to look at your back." he confesses to her and pushes her upper body a little bit away from him. Rey had been struggling with pain in his shoulders all day.

"And...?" she asks uncertainly. He runs his hand lightly over her wounded skin and then gives her a kiss on each shoulder blade. All the while he holds her upper body with the other hand.

"Well... let's put it this way, backless dresses are out of the question for you in the near future," he says and pulls her gently back to his chest.

"Please don't cry anymore."   
She turns to him and now sits on the side of his lap.   
With gentle kisses on his jaw she leans against him. 

"Then please don't be angry with me anymore."  
"I am not angry with you... any more..." he confesses calmly.

They sit like this for a while until Ben gets a thought.  
"Could you do me a favour?" he asks cautiously.  
"Yes, yes... I will eat properly... ...I promise." she says something snotty.   
"That's very kind of you, but I'm not getting at it..."  
"Then what?" she asks again, slightly embarrassed.   
"Can I wash your hair?" he asks cautiously.  
"Um..."  
"Please allow me." he says with an enchanting puppy look.  
"Very well." she says sheepishly.   
How can she knock him out with those eyes? 

She sits back down next to him on the bench, one arm resting on the edge of the pool. He pulls her head back slightly and pours water over her hair with his hands. Then he takes one of the bottles from the edge and puts some of the contents into his palm. 

It feels incredibly pleasant for her as he spreads the creamy liquid in her hair and massages it onto her scalp. In this moment she has the feeling to be as close as never before to him. 

When he is finished, he asks her to lean back into his outstretched arm. She hesitates for a moment but then he says: "Trust me!" 

There's something in his voice that could make her do anything he asks her to. Anything at all...

She leans into his arm and lies almost flat in the water that surrounds her head and hair. With the other hand he loosens her frothy hair and washes it out. 

As soon as she puts her arms around his neck he pulls her back onto his lap. For some time they look into each other's eyes and then: "I know you don't have it easy with me sometimes. I'm not used to anyone taking care of me ..." she says softly and kisses him.

"It's okay..." he answers after the kiss.   
"Your moods are... refreshing. I enjoy watching you become aggressive." he confesses to her.

"Why are you so calm about this?"  
"Because it's enough to upset one of us." he says with a smile. 

She looks at him for a long time. With one finger she strokes the scar she gave him at the Starkiller base. She has got used to it by now and can't quite imagine him without it.

"Did you have other women before me?" she asks completely unexpectedly.   
He raises his eyebrows.

"No! You are the first... why?"  
"I'm just wondering...," she starts and looks away with red cheeks.   
"that this is working out so well for us. I mean... when we..." 

_She's so cute!_ he thinks to himself and smiles.

"Well... I'd say it's instinct." he admits and strokes this unruly (now wet) streak off her face.  
"Everything I do with you is instinct." 

Rey has to think about it for a moment as he runs his fingers gently down her cheek, neck and collarbone.

"Don't you want to know if I've been with a man before?" she asks seriously.

Very slowly Ben bites his lower lip to stop himself from laughing. She looks at him angrily again.

"You know... you are so sweet sometimes!" he says with a cheeky grin on his lips.   
She swings out as if by reflex and wants to slap him, but he catches her wrist and can stop her. She looks at him doggedly and wants to get her hand free again.

"Don't you think you've scratched me enough today?!" he asks with a mischievous look in his eyes.   
Now she is confused. 

"What do you mean?" she asks curiously.  
"Not so important..." he says in a rough voice, just lifts her up at the waist and places her astride on his lap. 

As if spellbound, she runs her hands across his chest until her fingertips stroke his abdominal muscles and he inhales sharply when touched.

"Listen Rey...!" he starts off carefully and looks away embarrassed.  
"If it's too much for you, or if you don't want something, I want you to tell me."

Rey looks at him in surprise.  
"What do you mean?"  
He keeps looking away grimly.   
"I don't want you to feel like you have to do all this... I mean, when we are together..."

Rey understands what he means. Gently she puts his head between her hands and looks for his gaze.

"Ben... I love being with you..."   
Her voice is almost a whisper.  
"You don't force me to do anything..."

As if to confirm, she sits up, reaches between them and directs his already erect penis to her entrance.   
As soon as she sits down on him, she makes a long groan.

With one hand she runs her hand through his hair and pulls him closer to her. When her lips meet, she begins to move.  
With his hands on her hip he instructs her movements and pushes her higher and higher. 

At some point she releases the kiss, throws her head back and screams his name in ecstasy.  
After a few blows he follows her and puts his forehead on her shoulder.

Exhausted, Rey sits on his lap and lets her head hang behind his shoulder. He holds her by the hip with one hand and with the other he slowly strokes her spine up and down.  
Every now and then she gives a little light moan.

When she finally opens her eyes, she can see what he meant by _scratches_.   
His back is decorated with five long red stripes. That was her. She sits up and he moans in shock as he slides out of her.

"Was that me?" she asks and touches one of the marks carefully with her index finger. He flinches briefly and lets her climb down from him. She pushes him aside at the shoulder so that she has free access to his back.

_Sairah spoke about some ointments_ she thinks. After a short look around she can already make the right can. She grabs it and pushes his upper body further forward. He watches over his shoulder the whole time. 

Carefully she spreads the ointment, which smells of strong herbs, on the welts.  
"Why didn't you say anything?" she asks reproachfully.  
"I only noticed it later... when my mother wanted to embrace me." 

Embarrassed, she purses her lips.  
"That's about how I noticed my back."  
"I wondered why she approached me." he says amusedly.

"Is that what she told you before she went into the Falcon?"  
Ben thinks back and smiles a little.  
"No... that's when she warned me not to screw things up with you."  
"Well, have fun with that!" she says and gives him one last tender kiss on the cheek before she gets out of the tub. 

He watches her dry her body and hair with a towel.   
After she has brushed her hair a little bit she turns to him and says: "Are you coming then?" and leaves the bathroom with these words. 

He follows her, goes back briefly and takes one of the plates with sweet pastries.  
"You're going to eat something!" he calls after her.

He can literally see her annoyed eye rolling.

Rey reflects that night that Sairah is right with her statement about make-up sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay well!
> 
> Lori ❤


	23. Miho and Jasha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben enjoy their last day on the base.

Later in bed, Ben is lying on his back. The blanket is only just below his belly button. Rey lies turned on her stomach, her hands flat on his chest and her head supported on it.  
Her feet dangle relaxed in the air. 

It is the middle of the night and Ben is watching the moon's play of light on her skin. Another one of those moments... that he wants to remember forever.  
And now he's about to end that moment. 

Rey the one who has closed her eyes gives a soft "Hmm!"  
"Spit it out. Your hesitation sucks."  
"Girl! Can you read minds?" he says in a fake shock.  
"Only yours, my dear," she replies boldly.

After a moment's hesitation, he replies: "What do you want to do tomorrow?"  
But Rey smells a rat.  
"Beeeeen!" she stretches out his name to signal her impatience.

"We are going on a journey starting the day after tomorrow." he finally admitting.  
With a sigh, she rolls herself off him, gets up and wraps the blanket around her naked body.  
She walks towards the French window and looks out into the forest.

"Will we ever come back here?"  
Ben sits up.  
"Yes, if you wish."  
"Well... maybe we can name the planet someday..." she says casually. 

She's admiring the view of the forest in the moonlight. It's easy to see the greenish glow of the lake at a spot between the trees... ...of them lake.

"You once said that this place... ...was the closest thing to home that you had ever known..."  
Ben agrees with her and keeps a close eye on her.  
"I never had anything like... a home." she mumbles.

The black-haired man gets up, walks up to her and puts his arms around his fellow.  
"You feel at home here?"  
"Well... no, but I like it here."  
"Then you don't consider this place your home?" he asks confusedly.

She turns to him and puts her arms around his neck.  
"Ben... my home is where you are."

The interviewee is visibly moved by this confession. But before he can kiss her, she frees herself from his embrace, takes his hand and pulls him to the bed.  
"Come on, now... let's follow our instincts a little longer." she pulls him up.

Ben stops and pulls her back into his arms.  
"I get the feeling you're getting cockier and cockier... can something be done about it?" he asks jokingly.  
"No... definitely not." she replies as cheeky as ever and pulls his face closer to her for a kiss.

"What do we want to do tomorrow?" asks Ben about the kiss.  
"Or we could stay in bed all day," he suggests.  
"No! I want to absorb as much of this place as I can."   
She ponders for a moment.  
"Sairah told me about the village behind the meadow.  
"We can go there. I've never been there myself... I know how to get there... You'll like it." he says with a smile and falls on the bed with her.

The next morning she sits on the sofa with her head down and listens to the tirades of Sairah. She tells her down to the last detail how worried she was about her.   
Ben (this coward) has pulled himself out of the affair just in time and claims he has to prepare her trip.

Rey assures her many times that she never wants to worry her like that again. Sairah also wants to forgive her, but only if she is allowed to choose her wardrobe on the trip. Rey unfortunately has no other choice but to vote. Since she would not know what to wear on a state visit anyway.

Arriving at the big hangar deck she already sees the reason for Ben's _...You'll like this._

He's standing in front of two huge varactyls. Big lizards with a beak shaped mouth, and blue-green iridescent feathers reaching from head to back and tail.   
They have fifteen feet and a scaly leathery skin. One of them has a green skin colouring and the other a rather reddish one. 

She slowly approaches the two, who seem to communicate in sharp shrill cries. The green one seems to be interested in her and runs towards her with a jerk, only to stop right in front of her and pattern her with his deep black eyes. 

Rey carefully raises a hand and touches the hard forehead of the Varactyl. Slowly she goes to his side and runs her hand through his headdress. Spines are hiding under the feathers. A riding saddle is attached to his back. It has a handle on both sides and a larger back plate.

It continues with the hand and reaches the neck of the animal. It starts to gurgle. Apparently he likes to be stroked there.

"Do you like it?" asks Ben, who suddenly appears on the other side of the varactyl.  
"She?"   
He nods.  
"She is beautiful."  
"Do you think you could ride her?" he asks.  
In fact, Rey isn't really sure. She has no trouble with machines but live animals...?

"What's her name?" she asks curiously.  
"Her name is Jasha. And this one..." he says and pulls the reins of the red Varactyl. "...this is Miho."

"Jasha?!" she says carefully. The Varactyl reacts immediately and turns his head curiously towards her. They look into each other's eyes for a while and then Rey strokes her neck again. She starts gurgling again and slowly she sits down on the floor and lets her rise. 

As soon as she is sitting safely in the salt, Ben hands her the reins and lets him climb up himself. He pulls on one of the reins and Miho races into the forest, closely followed by Jascha. Rey quickly gets the hang of it. She can feel how she gradually gains the trust of the animal. But she still has to get used to the movements. 

They are not as fast as with a speeder but even this speed is very fast. If bigger rocks or fallen trees are in the way, the varactyls just climb over them.

When they arrive at the big meadow they stop for a short time. Ben shows them exactly where they have to go and Rey suggests a race again, which he gladly accepts this time.  
They have a lot of fun with the varactyls. At the other end of the meadow they ride to the left along the edge of the forest towards a rocky area. When they reach a very steep wall the varactyls climb up without much effort. 

At the top they stop again for a moment and descend briefly. The two varactyls remain standing devotedly and wait patiently for their riders to return. 

Ben takes a few steps with her and at some point you can see a beautiful waterfall further down in a small gorge.  
"Can we get down there?" she asks excitedly.  
"Yes, but we'll get there from another side." he says and means to her to climb back up.

They ride a few hundred metres further up the hill until they slide down a slope and continue into the gorge on a mountain path embedded in the rock face.  
At some point they reach the entrance to a large cave and disappear into the darkness. 

After a few meters they are enclosed by the darkness and slow down. They walk through the cave at a leisurely pace and it is as if they are walking under a starry sky. The walls are illuminated by many small glowing crystals. 

At some point there is some light at the end of the tunnel. But before they reach it, the varactyls glide into an underground lake. Now they swim towards the exit under the glowing ceiling. As soon as they reach the end, Rey can already hear the waterfall. 

They come out directly behind the waterfall. Thundering masses of water hit the lake in front of them. They glide sideways past it but still get wet by a fine mist of water. 

When they have passed the waterfall the varactyls rise out of the water and Ben advises them to climbing down quickly. Not a moment too late, because in the next moment Jasha shakes herself hard and splashes Rey with water from top to bottom.

She has to laugh and as soon as Ben steps out from behind Miho she can't get her head around it anymore. He too looks like after a cold shower. 

They stand on a fine sandy beach. A small crystal clear lake spreads out in front of them, giving a view down to the bottom. It is surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs.

After they have laid their clothes on a bare stone to dry, which is illuminated by the sun, they both sit down on the shore. Ben only wears his trousers and Rey her trousers and a short belly-free shirt. The Varactyls are lying in another sunny spot and warming up.

Rey looks fascinated at the swirling water and the darkness behind it. It reminds her a little of the dark place on Master Skywalker's Island... The underground lake... and the mirror. Involuntarily she must tremble.

"Are you cold?" he asks one day. She turns to him in horror and grabs her arms.   
"Just a little." she admits.   
"Shall I warm you up?" he asks and spreads his arms invitingly. She moves to him and lets herself be embraced by his arms. 

Suddenly her heart starts racing again violently.  
For her it is amazing that his closeness still stirs her up.  
"Although you still feel cold... but your cheeks seem to glow again..." he whispers softly into her ear and gives her goose bumps.

"I don't want you to get sick anymore." he says and puts his mouth on her forehead.  
"What are you doing?" she asks in surprise.  
"I can feel if you have a fever." he says calmly.   
Now she looks at him confused.  
"That's what my mother used to do to me when I was sick."

His mother?! Rey can hardly imagine him as a little boy with red cheeks from the fever and finding comfort in the loving arms of his mother.

She looks at him for a moment and then looks down at the water.

"I can't remembe ... my mother."  
The only memory of her parents is the moment they left her on Jakku.

"Do you miss her?" he asks carefully.  
"I don't know... I think so... But, it feels like I never really had a family..." she confesses to him, wiping a tear from her cheek. 

She feels the pressure of his embrace getting stronger and leans her head against his chest.  
"Then let me be your family..."  
Slowly she looks up at him. He looks at her with glowing eyes.

"I promise you Rey... I'll never leave you alone." he says and gives her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my dears! 
> 
> At this point, so close to the end, I should finally mention that this story has two parts...   
> And this is only part one. 
> 
> So after chapter 25 we'll move on to part 2...   
> There will be another chapter every day and I hope my readers will stay with me. ;)
> 
> So, have a good Tuesday.   
> Your Lori ❤


	24. The village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the village of the former slaves they find new friends and old customs.

When the sun stopped shining on the hidden lake in the afternoon, both of them set off for the village of the former slaves. 

On the back of the Varactyle they climbed the steep rock face and returned to the meadow.  
At a place in the forest a path led through and after a short time they reached a huge clearing.

Many wooden huts and tents were built in the circle.   
In front of the first houses there is a troop transporter, in front of which two storm troopers and two other men are standing and talking. 

Arriving at their place Ben dismounts and goes to Rey to help her get off her varactyl. The two men, dressed in brown leather, take the reins of the Varactyl and bring them back on the way they came.

"We will return in the Troopship... Sairah should be around here somewhere." he says to answer her questioning glance.

From the houses they hear songs in foreign language. Slowly they walk between the small huts, towards the voices. In the middle between the houses is a large open space where about 50 people have gathered and are singing together. At one corner they recognize Sairah, who looks at the whole thing with a smile. When she sees them, she waves them over to her.

"They are celebrating the birth of a new child." she explains in a subdued voice.  
"They thank the earth, the forest, the water and the wind for the gift of life..." she translates.

"That there is Tahe Lou." she points to an older Twi'lek with green skin.  
"He is the village elder here. Everyone admires him and looks up to him."

Rey takes a closer look around the room. Among the inhabitants there are not only Twi'lek, but also humans and other species.

"Why don't you sing along?" she asks her friend. Without looking at her, she only just answers: "I am not singing!"   
Rey can sense that there is more behind this statement, but doesn't want to go into it further.

After the villagers have finished their thanksgiving singing, some of them disperse. Tahe Lou immediately approaches Ben and gives him a friendly shake. Ben returns the handshake and is welcomed by Tahe on Twi'leki.

"It is a pleasure to finally welcome you to the village Master Ren... oh I forgot, Sairah told us that you are now called Master Ben. And this must be your young fiancée." he says and turns his gaze towards Rey.   
She smiles at him and also offers him her hand in greeting. 

"I am Rey. It's nice to meet you!" she says politely.  
"It's nice to meet you too. Welcome to our little community. Make yourself at home."

While he is talking, some of the children come running to Rey and shout something to her in a foreign language. Sairah translates for her that they want to give her a gift. Rey kneels down to them and has a self-made necklace with colourful beads and small carvings put around her neck.   
"Thank you!" she says and smiles at the children who run back to their parents laughing.

Everyone in the village looks very happy. One of the girls runs to her mother, who holds her tight in her arms and turns with her to dance. It is such a peaceful and normal picture. Rey wonders if she ever had such a happy time as a child... Sairah pulls her into a group of young women and introduces some of them to her. Some of the girls keep looking from Rey to Ben, who is still talking to Tahe, then they talk to each other with a giggle. After a sideways glance at Sairah, she shakes her head only eye rolling.

Some of the Twi'lek girls showed some dances later and sang along. Again and again children came running to Rey, addressed her with Mistress Rey, bowed and then ran away giggling.

"The children are very excited because our liberator is finally coming to visit us..." explains Tahe, who sits down with her.  
"It is a great honor for us. And I personally am very happy that he has found a mate for himself."  
Rey blushes a little at his words.

"May I ask you, why didn't you return to Ryloth after you were freed?" she asks curiously.  
"Oh, I suppose I could have done that but... many of the twi'lek you see here have been in captivity since birth. Ryloth is simply not their home. And I couldn't possibly leave them behind. Many of them distrusted the first order even after they freed us. So I helped them make a new home here. We were always left alone by first order forces and yet supported by them. And we know... that Master Ren... I mean, of course, Ben had a great part in that."   
During his last words she turns to her fiancé and sees him talking to some of the soldiers (who have taken off their helmets).

"You have given him light" says Tahe suddenly and Rey looks at him in amazement.   
"You can see it... it penetrates him. "And... Sairah has also flourished around you... she used to be a shy thing that would always let her lekkku fall over her back... and now... look at her!"   
Rey looks at Sairah, wearing one of her lekkku (or head tails) over her shoulder and playing with some of the children.   
"She feels comfortable and she likes you!"  
"I like her a lot too."   
Tahe smiles.

From a group of the older women a red-skinned Twi'lek approaches her and asks Rey a question on Twi'leki, pointing at Ben at some point.   
"She will soon be his wife." Tahe replies friendly. The woman takes another close look at Rey and then leaves again.

"Don't worry about it!" he says appeasingly.  
"What did she want?" the brunette asks confused.  
"The older ones here sometimes have a somewhat entrenched view on marriage."   
Rey does not quite understand him and is distracted again when Sairah approaches her with some of the children in tow. The children call out to her that they want to play with her even more, but Sairah yaps at her briefly but lovingly on Twi'leki and the little ones run away screaming while playing.

Laughing she sits down next to Rey. She now takes a closer look at her lekku. She remembers that, just like the other Twi'lek in the base, she always let him fall over her back at the beginning. This generous form of trust, to put one of her lekkku over her shoulder, moves Rey deeply.   
Sairah has really become her best friend now.

All of a sudden, the old woman from just now is standing in front of her again and hands her a bowl with a greenish shimmering liquid. It reminds her a bit of the lake at the base. She shows her again and again that she should drink it. Rey takes the bowl carefully in his hand and wants to lead it to her mouth when Sairah can take the bowl out of her hand just in time.   
"No, no, no!" she says quickly and hands the drink back to the old woman. Rey is just amazed.  
"Oh!" makes Tahe, who gives them his attention again. With calm words he speaks friendly to the old woman who seems to scold him and Sairah as well as Rey with reprehensive words at Twi'leki.  
"No, no,... it's not like that, I haven't said... not yet!" Tahe tries to calm her down while she keeps telling him off.

Sairah pulls Rey away from the spot. But before they are far enough away she hears the old woman shout the word "Shzocka!" a few times.

"Oh man!" says the young Twi'lek with a slightly shaky tone.  
"What was that all about?" Rey now asks curiously.  
"That was... well you know the elders here have a very old-fashioned view on marriage."   
That was about the same thing Tahe just said to her. 

Rey tilts her head a little.  
"Well, that's just... they don't understand that a man and his wife share a bed until they're properly joined. I mean married." she says apologetically.   
"How does she know I'm... _sharing a bed with ben_?" asks rey.  
"They can see that." she says with a roll of her eyes.  
"And what was in the bowl?"  
"Well, that... was a special ritual drink."   
Rey tilts her head again.  
"It's only drunk during a certain ceremony and it's supposed to contain certain herbs that can cause, like waking dreams or visions."  
"What kind of ceremony would make you drink this?" Rey asks amusedly.  
"At a fraternity ceremony. Or as you would call it, a wedding."

She stares at her friend with big eyes.   
"She would have let you have a sip of it, then handed the bowl to Ben and then led you two into an empty tent."  
Rey looks back at the old woman who is still talking to Tahe with a red head. 

_Was she about to marry us in a hurry?_ She asks herself.

"What did she actually say?" she asks amusedly.  
"What do you think?"  
"That word she said at the end... Shzocka...?"  
"Oh...!" Sairah says amusedly.  
"It means 'outrageous'... get used to it, Twi'lek say that all the time." both start to laugh.

The rest of the day went just as peacefully as it began.   
The children kept coming back to play with Rey and Sairah. They ate and drank, laughed and watched the beautiful dances. Some of the girls kept singing in foreign languages. 

And Rey could have sworn that the old woman was always around her or Ben with a bowl of green shimmering liquid until Tahe or Sairah chased her away. 

But Ben was never in the middle of the turmoil. He always stood on the edge and just looked at everything. Again and again he looked at Rey and smiled at her, apparently satisfied that she was comfortable among the villagers. 

As soon as it got dark, the elders sent the children into the houses and tents and a big fire was lit in the square. It was time to say goodbye. Sairah took some of the girls in her arms and promised to visit them soon and she promised to bring Rey too. 

Tahe Lou said goodbye a bit away from Rey. He put his big hands on both sides of her face and gave her a light kiss on the forehead.  
"Good luck on your travels. Always look out for each other and keep filling his heart with your light!" 

Rey began to see Tahe as an old, lovable uncle. He takes good care of his people. And seems to have sacrificed a lot for them.

When Rey steps up to Sairah, the old Twi'lek from before comes past them and they can clearly hear the word >Shzocka!< from her mouth. The two look at each other and have to refrain from laughing violently.

On the way to the transporter Ben puts an arm around her shoulder and pulls her closer to him.  
"What was that with old Twi'lek earlier?" he asks her close to her ear and leads her to the transporter.  
"I'll tell you later!" she says and can't help smiling.  
There's no way she wants to talk about a subject like that near the storm troopers. 

As soon as they are sitting in the Troopship she turns to Sairah who seems to be sitting next to her soldier and lets her whisper something into her ear that makes her blush and giggle.

"Sairah is coming with us on the journey?" Rey whispers to her fellow.  
He looks at her with a raised eyebrow and answers quietly: "But of course..., I can't be in your bad mood all the time if you have to wear a dress all the time."   
So she slaps his upper arm. He smiles and rubs the maltreated area.

"Yes, she comes along as your servant... and her Dearest is the captain of our personal bodyguard... ...so he is always in our near... ...and close to her." he says with a grin.

"When will they be able to marry?" she asks directly.  
"As soon as we get back... I think."   
For a moment they both remain silent... then she can't hold back the question.

"When will we marry?"  
He didn't expect that question at all.   
"That you are interested... I would have least expected it." he answers calmly, waiting for another comment from her. 

When she says nothing more, he looks ahead and chooses his words carefully.   
"When we return from our travels the preparations will begin. And it still has to be clarified where the ceremony will take place... And it will come later... from what system we shall rule..."

"We have to live somewhere else?" she interrupts it a bit louder, so that all the soldiers in the transporter turn to them.

"I seem to recall that only last night you confessed that you do not consider this place your home..." he speaks impatiently.  
"Yes... but here it is... I said I like it here!" she finally admits.  
"And yet here we are..." she hardly dares to say the word... she doesn't know if she's going to offend him. 

"I, for one, am very happy here with you." he says while kissing her on the forehead. She is always surprised when he does that. It's like he's looking right into her... as if she were made of glass to him.

"Let's just not go too far," she asks him and leans against him. He puts his arm around her again and whispers softly, "Anything you want, my girl."

His girl!? 

Smiling, she has to admit to herself that she is _his girl_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow there will be the last chapter of the first part and the first chapter of the second part. 
> 
> The title of the second part is The Grey Queen.
> 
> Have a nice day. 
> 
> Your Lori ❤


	25. Start of a journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the end comes a new beginning... or... The path is the goal.

Rey wakes up again on Ben's arms. She must have fallen asleep on the way back to base. He is walking straight down the corridors towards her room.  
As soon as he notices that she has woken up he kisses her gently on the forehead.

"Go back to sleep! We have a long day tomorrow." she then kisses him on his beard, which has already grown stronger, and indeed falls asleep again quickly.

The next morning she wakes up wrapped in his arms. She only wears her underwear and he also wears only his underpants. She remembers quite vaguely that she let him undress her.

She decides to let him continue sleeping and goes to the window door. The sun is just rising. Quietly she takes a chair and sits down at the open window as usual.

The wind blows lightly through her hair and makes her shiver a little.  
Sleeping in his arms is incredibly pleasant. She hasn't had a nightmare for days. She has become accustomed to his presence.

Smiling, she looks at his sleeping figure. With a slight uneasiness she has to think back to her first encounter. In the forest.

He could manipulate her so easily with the Force. He carried her away and held her captive.  
 _His guest_... that's what he called her then. When he took off his mask, she was expecting a disfigured face... but he looked normal. She could not imagine how such a normal-looking young man could become such a monster.

She thinks back to the fear she felt when he held his lightsaber to her throat.

Carefully she gets up, walks around the bed to his night cabinet, kneels in front of it and grabs his lightsaber.

It's bigger... and heavier than her own. It's uncomfortable for her to hold. It must be incredibly difficult to handle. She wonder why it's red.  
She looks at it carefully, it's dark grey and has a red cord. She had it in her hand once before when she wanted to go at Snoke with it... It didn't feel right then either.

When she slides her finger lightly over the switch that activates it, she can feel that she is being watched. Shocked, she looks up and looks into the wide open eyes of her fellow.

He has half turned to her and looks at her closely. Involuntarily she has to think back to the situation with him and Luke, back then in the new Jedi Temple. She gets nervous.

He turns completely around to her and sits down on the edge of the bed. With one hand he reaches for her hand and presses the button to activate the sword while she is still holding it.  
A flickering red glow appears in front of them. She slowly puts the sword into his hands. He holds it in front of her for a moment and then makes it disappear again.

"Why the parry bars?" she asks curiously.  
"Because the crystal inside is broken. ...so the excess energy is drained away."  
She looks closely at the sword in his hand.  
"It makes me feel more like... unstable..." she admits and looks him in the eye.  
"And so it is... It is powerful and the two parry blades are incredibly practical but..." he puts the sword back on his night cabinet.  
"...when it was finished, it was difficult to handle at first."

"What about your old sword?"  
Ben looks at her with a raised eyebrow.  
"That is... theoretically... my old sword... I had the crystal refracted and modified... it's difficult, but like I said... very powerful."

She looks up at him for a long time until he gives her his hand and draws her to him. She sits astride him and wraps her arms around his neck. With her hands on her hips, he pulls her closer.

"I see you have another sword there." she giggles and he silences her with an intense kiss.

With one hand he runs along her back under her short shirt and with the other hand he goes the same way, just over her belly. But before he can reach where he wants with his hand... the door to her room opens and they hear the lively voice of Sairah: "Good morning you two. I have to start dressing Mistress Rey. And you, Master Ren are expected at the hangar. So if I could ask you two to separate..." she shouts from the front door.  
Rey puts her head to the neck and breathes out audibly.

After Rey had showered, on the instruction of Sairah, she started to do her hair and to put on a (in her opinion) suitable dress. This time it is a green dress. Again much lighter fabric in which she feels almost naked. A v-shaped neckline, sleeveless, with metal rings on the straps and a dark green belt above the waist under which it falls far. (like a dress with a Greek handle)

Rey is glad that she at least tied her hair the way she usually wears it. It makes her feel less like a stranger.  
While she looks at herself in the mirror, Sairah also looks at her more closely.

"Do you know that you are beautiful?" Before Rey can react with a sarcastic comment, Ben, who has just come out of the bathroom, talks in between: "She's right!"  
He wears black pants and a grey shirt. And he also looks very handsome.

"Sairah...! please wait at the hangar... we will be right there..."  
"But..." she wants to protest.  
"Her hair! Her hair better not be messy!" she says before she leaves the room.

Ben and Rey are just looking at each other. You can see the same desire in both eyes.

As they come towards each other, both their breaths accelerate. They immediately fall around each other's necks and kiss wildly. Rey pulls his shirt up further and Ben pulls the straps of her dress to one side while they stagger further towards the bed. At some point Rey gives up her efforts to get his shirt open and prefers to make sure that his pants come undone, but she can't manage the buttons on them. When she feels the bed in the back of her knees, she falls backwards and slides further onto the bed while he continues her efforts and unbuttons his pants.  
She, on the other hand, pulls her dress further up.

When they are both ready, her dress wrapped around her waist and his pants and underpants gathered around his knees, he falls down on her.

It is fast and wild. It's as if they hadn't made love in ages...

Again and again he pants words of praise in her ear, what a good girl she is, how well she takes him or how wild the little noises she makes make him.

With both hands clawed in his ass she pushes him even further inside.

When they both come shortly after each other they scream out the name of the other and tense up into each other.

After they let the aftershocks of their orgasm fade away, he lies on top of her panting for a while and they both catch their breath again.

"We won't get that much time soon..." he says at some point, still slightly out of breath.

"To a quikie?" she asks cheekily back.  
He leans on his elbows and looks at her more closely.  
"Some of the systems share, among other things, the view of the old Twi'lek of yesterday, that a man should not share a bed with his wife unless they are fairly married."

She slaps him lightly on the chest and tries to push him off herself. He doesn't move an inch, though.

"How do you always...?"  
"What?" he asks, amazed at her sudden change of mood.  
"How do you know about the old lady from yesterday again?"  
"Honestly...?" he asks embarrassed.  
"I asked Sairah while you were sleeping.  
"Oh...!" she makes a small noise.  
"I thought you'd gone back into my mind or something..."  
"No!" he says in a slightly angry tone.  
"But your question about our wedding yesterday puzzled me a bit, considering you were so against marriage at first. I was just curious and... and that weird old lady came to me a few times before Tahe scared her away.

Rey puts her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing.  
 _So he noticed_

Slowly he rises and slides out of her.  
With a deep sigh she gets up and goes straight to the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" He calls after her.  
"I'm going to clean up. If the dress gets stained, Sairah will kill me..." it only comes from the bathroom.  
Ben just smiles.

After she has freshened up a bit and also straightened her dress, she stands in front of the mirror.  
"Oh man!" she says quietly and starts to undo her braids.

Ben stands behind her and helps her. Her hairstyle was severely damaged by ther little quicky.

"Never mind, I'll do it!" she tells him and pushes his hands to the side.  
"Just let me help you!"  
"Ben!" she says impatiently.  
"I've tied my own hair all my life... so please."  
"May I at least watch you do it?" he asks with a pout and sits down on the stool by the mirror. Rey just smiles and rolls her eyes slightly.

"What I actually wanted to say..." he restarts the subject from before.  
"In our travels, we will not share the bed... or the room. As I said, the individual systems don't like that."

Rey knows that it's probably better that way but still it means many sleepless nights, with nightmares for both of them. When she steps on it, she looks down.

"There's something else we should consider..." he starts.  
 _What more can come?_ she thinks.

"Some of the systems we are going to visit have previously sympathized and worked with the First Order or even with the Empire before that. So they'll have their problems with a former resistance fighter as the new queen.

Rey looks up.

_This would mean, in reverse..._

"And many systems that worked openly against the First Order... ...are likely to turn against me now, as the new king."

She knew they wouldn't have it easy, but...

"My mother is already doing diplomatic groundwork with some systems that are sympathetic to her. I will protect you from those who oppose you, but... the systems that have a problem with me and my past actions... you'll have to win them over."

"I see..." she says quietly, tying up her last pigtail and sitting on Ben's lap.  
He has also dressed properly again, his grey shirt is now sitting straight and he is wearing a vest and a coat over it. Lost in thought she straightens the collar of his shirt.

"We're going to make it...!"  
She looks at him expressionlessly.  
"Together!" she says.

He smiles again at the beautiful smile that she loves so much. With one hand, she runs across his temple to his stubbly chin. He briefly puts his forehead against hers and whispers.

"I know that when my girl is with me I can do anything."  
Rey must smile. There it is again... _his girl..._

Together and hand in hand they walk to the hangar and up the ramp to the spaceship. Her lightsaber holds her tight and he carries his own.

When he took it from his bedside table and tried to put it on his belt, he had stared at it for a moment with a strange expression in his eyes. But when Rey asked him what was wrong, he had caught himself again, stuck the lightsaber on his belt and assured her that everything was fine  
be.

For a moment she turns around again and looks at the beautiful woods, she thinks about her first training with him... and the first kiss he had stolen from her... her first trip to the big meadow, her nightly bathing in the shining lake where they had come so close to each other... the hidden little waterfall where he swore never to abandon her and the village.

Yes, she will return... with him... with her king.

Be my Queen  
End ♥

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But there's more in The Gray Queen.  
> Find out how Rey has fought his way through the galaxy, at the side of her fellow, and what problems still stand in their way.
> 
> PS. The crew of the Millennium - Falcons and the twins will also be back in the game. ^.-´
> 
> I hope you enjoyed my first story and you are already in the mood for the 2nd part.
> 
> With this one it also starts right away.  
> Depending on the situation there can be two chapters per day.
> 
> So, once again many thanks to all readers. Stay healthy and hopefully until tomorrow.  
> Your Lori ❤


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